Vengence
by Lady Kieryn
Summary: Armed with Syphon Filter, Aramov plans her revenge against Gabe and his friends. Complete.
1. Information Raid

Hello, everyone, just a few quick things.

I did not make these characters up, Edietic and 989 Studios did.  The story, however is my own work. This takes place after Syphon Filter 3. This is my first fan fiction, so I'd appreciate any comments/criticisms you may have.  Feel free to email me or leave a review. Thank you for reading, and enjoy! 

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Lian Xing, with a final check of her climbing gear, repelled gracefully down the side of the headquarters for a highly respected and successful pharmaceutical company.  The company was at the forefront of humanitarian programs to provide expensive AIDS cocktails to underdeveloped countries.  But the Agency had reasons to believe that ARC Industries had a shadier side.  That they where the new distributors of the Syphon Filter virus which had been showing up again in localized areas of those same underdeveloped countries.  And Lian was here to find proof.

She had scouted out the building, posing as a secretary, for two weeks.  Now she was going to pay back that director for all the times he'd tried to grab her ass.  She counted glass panels down to the proper floor, then over to the correct office suite.  Then she cut a hole in the glass with a laser cutter, waited for the edges to cool, and slipped through the hole, hands first, and fell noiselessly to the floor.

Rolling into a crouch, Lian drew her weapon, a silenced 9-mm, and surveyed the area.  Perfect.  This was almost going to be easy.  She'd learned on her reconnaissance that this specific area of the building would be undergoing an overhaul to the security system, and it would be temporarily offline.  Lian, always the suspicious type, thought the security guys would have posted a watch in every room, but evidently they had enough confidence in their encryption codes to not worry about anyone getting into the director's computer.

Too bad for them, she had already hacked it.

Weapon still in hand, Lian padded across the cheap carpet floor to the large desk and sat down in the big executive style chair.  Before she turned on the computer, she pulled the speaker plug out of the back of the PC.  Nothing would be more embarrassing then being caught by the Windows start-up jingle.  Now she pushed the power button, then slid the disk she brought with her into the CD-ROM drive.  She had the BIOS boot to the disk and executed the program.  In two minutes, she was in.

Now she plugged into the fire wire port a small, portable storage device and proceeded to download the entire hard drive.  Five more minutes, and it was time to cover up her entry.  Lian pulled a small flask out of her pack, set it down on the floor next to the power outlet the computer was plugged into, and shot it with her gun.  The entire area erupted into flames, and the fire alarms immediately went off and the suppression system kicked in.  Not that it was going to help.  The chemical burned rapidly and completely, and it was damn near impossible to put out the fire until it had burned its course.  The fire would destroy the computer and any evidence of her tampering.

Lian pulled herself back out of the hole in the glass and reattached herself to her climbing harness.  Now it was time to destroy evidence of her entering the glass.  She pushed away from the wall with her legs, then stiffened them and let them crash back into the glass.  A few more swings, and the window shattered.  Smiling to herself, she climbed back up to the roof, gathered her climbing gear, and waited for the stealth chopper to pick her up.  Hopefully, she got what they needed.

            ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the forty fifth floor of a neighboring office tower, Mara Aramov lowered her nightvision binoculars and smiled.  Logan and Xing were playing right into her hands.  She had made sure that Xing would be able to get the information, of course.  The files themselves were still encrypted, but Mara had faith in Xing's ability to eventually crack the codes.  She was one of the best hackers in the world, after all.  

Back in '99, when Mara and Rhoemer captured Lian for the first time, Aramov thought she was nothing more than a computer geek with a gun.  Now, after seeing Xing fight the Syphon Filter virus and a prison full of fully armed guards at the same time, Mara had more respect for the younger woman.  She could see why Logan liked her.

Logan.  Just the thought of him made her blood boil.  No one crossed Mara Aramov and got away with it.  Ever.  She would make him pay for the Girdeaux's death and for the headache he had caused her for the past several years, both for being a general pain in the ass and shooting her in the head twice.

Aramov pulled herself out of her own thoughts and back to the task at hand.  She had a plane to catch, and Logan and Xing would have to wait.  She would've loved to take care of Lian now, when Logan would live long enough to feel the pain of her loss, but Mara wasn't stupid.  She knew that Logan would make sure she never left Seattle alive if he found out his precious partner had been killed.  It would be better this way.

Convinced, she put her binoculars into her backpack and made her own exit.  Yes, this was going to be fun.

            --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gabriel Logan woke with a start, hitting his head on something in the process.  He blinked twice then glared at the object that was above his head.  A desk lamp?  Right, he'd spent the night at the office.  He had wanted to be here in case Lian got into trouble.  Finally, regaining his senses, Gabe rubbed the last traces of pain from hitting his head and stood up and stretched.

He immediately realized that falling asleep with his head on his desk hadn't been a very bright idea.  Every muscle in his back was tight from the extended hours in the awkward position, and they were complaining of their mistreatment.  Gabe found some over the counter pain killers in his desk and went down to the break room for some water.  

_What time is it? he wondered, looking around for a clock.  Then he remembered he had a watch.  __Damn, I need some caffeine.  0436.  __Lian__ should be home soon.  Even though he knew that he would've been notified if anything had happened to her on her assignment, he was still a little worried about her.  And it wasn't just about the job either; Gabe knew full and well that Lian was capable of taking care of herself.  She'd seemed somewhat… distant lately, and he really wasn't sure how to ask her about it.  __Maybe I'm just not used to not working with her as closely as I used to._

At any rate, now was not the time to worry about it.  Drinking the last of the water in his cup, Gabe went in search of coffee.  Of course, the damn coffee maker was empty.  _This is shaping up to be one hell of a day he thought coldly, mumbling curses as he prepared another pot of the disgusting but much needed liquid._

Ten minutes later, Gabe finally had some caffeine running through his veins, and he thought, at least for the moment, that everything was going to be okay.  That didn't last long.  As soon as he sat back down, his cell phone rang.  The noise made him jump, and he spilled scalding coffee down his right hand.  He swore some more, put down the mug, and ran to the sink to rinse his hand off.  Then, realizing that that annoying ringing wasn't inside his head, he fumbled for his phone, finally found it, and answered.

"Logan."

Colleen Smith, the weapons master's, annoyingly cheerful voice responded.  "Good morning, sir."  What business did she have being perky at 5 in the morning?

"Yeah, what is it?" Gabe answered gruffly.

Colleen, reading his tone, did her best to curb her natural enthusiasm.  "Sir, Agent Xing just got in.  I thought you'd want to talk to her."  Was there something suggestive in her tone?

Gabe chose to ignore it and simply said, "Yeah, I'll be down in a minute."

"Okay, boss, see you in a few," she responded, in her best attempt at a neutral tone and hung up the phone.

Gabe sighed, grabbed the remnants of his coffee, and headed for the elevator.  Yes, this was going to be just a terrific day.


	2. Recruiting Teresa

Gabe found Lian in her office in front of her laptop.  She had it in her lap, sitting cross legged on the sofa that lined the wall to the left of the door.  Lian was still in her combat gear, but she had taken off the long sleeved black shirt that she usually wore and was instead wearing a tank top.  She looked up when he came in.

Gabe wondered what he looked like to her.  His shirt was untucked and mostly unbuttoned, he had long since abandoned his shoes for a pair of flip flops he kept in his office, he hadn't shaved for days, and God knew what his hair looked like.

"You look like hell," Lian said as if reading his thoughts.

"It's been a long day."

Lian looked at a clock on the wall.  "Already?"  She flashed an amused smile at him.  "Maybe you should go take a nap."

Suddenly, Gabe realized how much he had missed talking with her like this.  In the past few months, he had rarely spoken to her about anything but work.  But, of course, now their conversation would have to turn back to the task at hand.

"Nah, I'll be fine.  How'd it go?"

"I downloaded that creep's hard drive and destroyed the evidence.  I don't think anyone caught me, so I'd say the operation was mostly a success."

"Mostly?"

"Well, I did break a nail."  Now it was Gabe's turn to smile, for the first time, he realized, that morning.  Then the smile faded as he studied the woman's face.  She may be acting cheerful, but Gabe knew her well enough to know that she was exhausted.

"Some of these files are encrypted," Lian continued, "but they shouldn't be any problem.  Working with the tech guys downstairs, I should have them open in a couple of hours."

"Maybe you should get some rest.  Let them handle it."

"I'm fine."

"You're about five minutes away from falling over."

"Look who's talking," she retorted.

"I got some sleep last night.  You didn't."

"Yeah, jet lag's a bitch.  I'll get over it."

"Yeah, because you're going home.  Now."  

Lian glared at him for a moment, then sighed.  "Alright, alright.  I'm going.  Just lemme give this to Dylan and…"

"I'll take it down," Gabe cut her off.  "You just get yourself home."

"What, you don't trust me?"

"I just don't want you be tempted to stay.  Now save that, give it to me, and get your ass in your car."  Lian glared at him again, but she turned off the laptop and gave it to him.  Then she stood up, went to her desk, and started searching though the mound of papers on it for her car keys.

Gabe, realizing she was in no shape to drive, said, "Don't worry about it.  Have Colleen take you home."

"Okay," she said exhaustedly and dragged herself out of the room, leaving Gabe alone without saying goodbye.

                                    *                      *                      *

"So, did you meet any cute guys in Seattle?" Colleen asked Lian as she drove down the highway at breakneck speed.

Lian usually rather liked the good natured Colleen, but now she wanted nothing more than to beat the younger woman repeatedly over the head with a baseball bat.  Did she ever shut up?

"Not really," Lian responded.  Colleen was proficient in three topics: guys, guns, and sex.  Lian would much rather talk about guns.

"But of course I should've realized you don't have an eye for anyone other than the director," Colleen rattled on.

"_What?" Lian asked, suddenly wide awake._

"Of course, honey, no one blames you.  He's a hottie, even at his age.  Nice ass, too."

"_What?"_

"Oh come on, Lian, I've seen the way he looks at you."

"_What?" Lian asked for the third time, and wondered if she would ever recover enough to say anything else._

Finally, Colleen shut up long enough for Lian to regain her composure.  "There's nothing… nothing going on between us.  We're just friends."

"Uh huh.  Sure."

"It's true!"  Suddenly, Lian was angry.  Why was she defending herself to this woman?  "Like it's any of your damn business anyway."

"Hey, girl, I didn't mean anything buy it.  Logan's a nice guy.  I was just saying you two would make a nice couple, that's all."

"Do you do anything else in the office other than setting people up?"

"Yeah, I do a little paperwork here and there, some inspections, then I read gun magazines all day.  Hey, I just read about a modification to the HK-5…" Colleen had finally changed the subject to guns, and Lian would interject off and on to make it look like she was actually paying attention.  

But on the inside, her head was turning.  Did people really think that she and Gabe were…?  No, it was ridiculous.  They were just friends, that's all.  Everyone could see that.  Colleen was just a gossip who tried to make her life more interesting by making the lives of those around her seem more interesting.  Lian rather pitied her.

Finally, they reached Lian's apartment complex.  She thanked Colleen absentmindedly and got out of the car.  Colleen said something in response, but Lian, already running up the stairs, didn't hear her.

Colleen Smith, as she returned to work, came to the conclusion that Lian Xing was a peculiar woman.

In Phoenix, Arizona, Teresa Lipan decided that her life officially sucked.  Her low-profile spy operation had gone under in her absence, so Teresa had moved back to the city of her birth and was looking for another job.  In the meantime, she was working in her mother's flower shop.  She had long ago learned the art of floral arrangement from her mother, and some could say she even had a talent for it, but she couldn't count it as one of her favorite hobbies, much less something she wanted to do every day for the rest of her life.

Teresa had tried her best, for the sake of her mother, to lead something resembling a normal life.  She kept her apartment clean, ate more than just frozen dinners, and even had a steady boyfriend.  But her apartment was a shit hole, her cooking sucked, and she had reason to believe that her boyfriend was sleeping with someone else.

Thinking about him was a mistake.  "That bastard," she said aloud to the empty shop for what had to be the hundredth time that morning as she stabbed some innocent rose into a Styrofoam block.  Unfortunately, when trimming the roses she had missed a thorn, and that thorn, as if to pay her back for the mistreatment of the flower, stabbed her in the thumb.  Teresa swore and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

At this moment, someone walked in the door.  Teresa immediately turned around so the customer wouldn't see her sucking her thumb and grabbed a tissue from the counter behind her.  She put on a superficial smile and felt prepared enough to turn around and help some dumb ass teenager order a corsage for the prom or some dumb ass husband pick out a bouquet to smooth things over with his wife after forgetting their anniversary.  As she thought about it, most men were dumb asses.

But it wasn't a man who entered a shop, but a woman.  "Lian," she said, coming from behind the counter to greet her friend with a hug and a genuine smile.  Lian hadn't changed much, except for her hair, which had grown out to cover her shoulders.

"It's good to see you, Teresa.  How have you been?"

"Don't ask.  So what brings you to this corner of hell?"

Lian paused for a moment, then said, "I've come to ask a favor of you."  From the expression on her face, Teresa realized that Lian thought she was going to get chewed out.  That she was expecting an earful about how the last favor had nearly gotten her killed.  And, to be fair, Teresa probably would've been pissed if she hadn't been bored out of her skull.

"Sure.  Whacha need?"  Lian blinked in surprise, then quickly regained her composure.  Little, Teresa decided, phased Lian.  She looked around the flower shop briefly before she answered.

"It's Mara.  We've got a lead on her, and we could use some help that we can really trust."

"What about your own people?  Can't you trust them?"

"Yeah, but they're practically a bunch of kids.  And besides, we need most of them at their own posts.  You know, national security stuff.  Gabe and I were going to go after her alone.  Unless, of course, you want to come along."

"Hell yeah, I want to come along.  I've got a bone to pick with that bitch.  Besides," she added, "It's so fucking boring here."

Lian looked once more around the flower shop.  "I can only imagine."

"Well, give me a few hours to get my shit together and tell my mom goodbye."

"How is your mom?"

"I'm fine!  Teresa, you'd better go pack!" Mrs. Lipan called from the back of the shop.  The two friends giggled.

"Okay, mom!" Teresa called back.  "You heard the woman," she said to Lian, "let's go."

                                                *                      *                      *

"So here's the deal," Lian explained to Teresa when they finally arrived at Lian's apartment.  "Aramov's working with a pharmaceutical company called ARC Industries to test new strands of the Syphon Filter virus."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute.  I thought we'd destroyed all of the viral labs and shipments."

"So did we, but localized outbreaks started showing up in Africa about a month ago."

"Great.  So the bitch is out, working with one of the most powerful drug companies in the States, and she probably wants you and Gabe dead."

"Do you wish you'd stayed home?" Lian asked her friend.  It was great having Teresa back.  There weren't a lot of women in their line of work, and it was nice to be able to talk to someone who wasn't male or Colleen Smith.  There was that new girl, Deirdre, to talk to, but Lian didn't know her very well, and she really didn't seem to be the sociable type.

"Not a chance," Teresa answered.  "So, how do we stop Mara?"

"The information I got refers to a warehouse in Germany where they are storing the virus.  We're gonna go see what we can find there, and close down the operation."

"You don't sound entirely convinced that this is going to work."

Lian sighed.  "You're right, I'm not.  I dunno.  It all seems too…"

"Easy?"

"Yeah."  Lian had gone talked it over with Gabe several times, telling him that it was too easy to break into the office, that it was too easy to hack those files, and that everything was just too obvious.  But, in the end, they decided that they still had to follow this lead.  Or, at least Gabe had decided.  Lian still had serious reservations.

"And we're gonna go through with this, even though it might be a trap?"

"Gabe says we have to try."

Apparently, her irritation with the man had entered her voice.  "You don't seem too happy with that," Teresa said.

Lian considered dropping the subject, but instead nodded.  "I told him all of this, but he wouldn't listen to me."

"Well, it is pretty hard to talk Gabe out of something once he's set his mind to it."

"Yeah," Lian agreed, "He's such a pain in the ass sometimes."  Lian laughed to try to cover up her bitterness, but she saw that Teresa didn't fall for it.

"He really pissed you off, didn't he?"

"Yeah," she said again, looking down to the floor.  It wasn't like her to complain.  Gabe had been good to her.  He risked his life, more than once, to save hers.  She would always be grateful for that.  Why should she be angry with him?

Teresa opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment the doorbell rang.  Lian went to answer it.  It was Gabe, of course.  Without a word to her, he went immediately to Teresa and greeted her with one of his rare smiles.  Lian stared icily at the back of his neck and slammed the door shut.  He still didn't acknowledge her.  Yes, she was angry.


	3. A Difference in Opinion

Gabe was at Lian's, pouring over recon data from the Germany site.  Satellite photos, local maps, regional maps, road maps, topographical maps—Gabe was sick of maps.

Lian looked like she was sick of maps, too.  She had her hair pulled up into a rather sloppy bun that she had stabbed with a pencil to keep it in place and was playing with the loose strands as she gazed down at the photo in front of her with a bored expression she obviously wasn't making any effort to conceal.  She was laying on her stomach on the floor of the living room a few feet away from him, swinging her bare feet in the air.  The effect made her look like a teenager.  Then Gabe realized that she had been only 17 when they had met.  _Damn, I'm getting old._

The bored expression gave way to an irritated scowl when Lian looked up and saw Gabe studying her.  "What?" she asked, her tone none too gentle.

"Nothing."

At that, Lian rolled her eyes and sighed and then returned her attention to her work.  The scowl still hadn't left her face.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Yes, there's something wrong!" she exploded, sitting up to face him.  "I've been telling you that there's something wrong for the past two weeks, and now you suddenly want to hear about it."

Gabe looked up at her with surprise.  Lian never raised her voice, even in argument.  And arguments seemed to be the norm for their social interaction these days.  "Look, Lian, we've been through this a thousand times…"

"No," she cut him off, "_You've been through this a thousand times.  I haven't been able to talk without you dismissing me as paranoid."  Lian was glaring at him now.  Suddenly Gabe realized that he'd never seen her angry before._

Tired and worn out Gabe was quick to respond to anger with anger.  "So talk," he spat, glaring back at her.

"You know what I'm going to say!"

"That hasn't stopped you from saying it before!"

Lian abandoned shouting for a low, icy tone.  Her eyes were lethal.  "If you listened to me the first time, I wouldn't have to repeat myself," she said, locking eyes with him.

Gabe decided he liked the shouting better.  He could still fight when she was shouting.  Now her eyes pierced his like lances and made him freeze.  It took all his strength not to look away.  He stared back at her, trying to match her intensity, but knew that he would never be able to master a look like that in his lifetime.

Suddenly, her gaze faltered, only slightly, and her spell was broken, leaving Gabe even angrier than he was before.

"If you've got a problem with this mission, then stay here.  I don't need your help.  Theresa and I can take care of this by ourselves."

"Fine."

"Fine!" he shouted back and stormed out of the apartment, too angry to feel guilty, or even notice, that she had started crying.

Lian stared at the door for a long time after Gabe slammed it shut behind him.  The tears had left her, but the overwhelming sorrow hadn't.  She knew better than to fly off the handle like that.  And she just lost the best friend she had ever had.

She wondered what hurt her more: that it was her fault, or that he didn't seem to care.

Lian tried to will her eyes away from the door, but that will had been broken during their argument.  She wasn't angry anymore.  If she could've felt her legs, she would've ran after Gabe, begging him to forgive her.  But her limbs had turned to ice.

What did it matter that the Germany lead was probably a trap?  It was Gabe's job to hunt down Aramov and stop her from releasing Syphon Filter, and it was Lian's job to help him.  She realized, with the clarity of hindsight, that Gabe had to see this lead through, whether he thought it was a trap or not.  It was all they had.  And she would follow him to the ends of the earth, whether he felt that he needed her help or not.

Lian tried to look away again and this time succeeded.  Ignoring the mess on her living room floor, she went to her bedroom and set her alarm for 0400.


	4. A Simple Plan

Lian got up promptly after her alarm went off, and ignored her exhaustion as she got dressed and checked over her gear.  When she was ready 15 minutes later, she headed to the military airfield the Agency always used for transporting personnel in and out of Washington.

When Lian arrived, she found out that Gabe and Teresa already left.  Gabe intentionally changed their departure time so Lian would show up late.

_You won't get rid of me that easily, __Logan__, she thought and set out to catch a plane to Berlin._

Mara Aramov took her combat knife out of its sheath.  She rarely used knives; it generally wasn't her style to kill someone up close if she could just as easily shoot them from afar.  Still, this little blade had saved her life on more than one occasion, so she always wore it.

She pulled a sharpener out of her duffle bag and ran it along the knife's edges, humming to herself as she did so.  Mara was in a good mood.  Her prey had taken the bait and were on their way.  The only thing that dampened her mood was that her source reported that Xing was not with Logan and Lipan.  She wondered what Logan's top field agent was up to.  Not that it mattered, anyway.  Logan was going to die.  Aramov would have plenty of time to finish off the annoying Asian woman later.

Aramov held the knife up to the light, watching it shine as she drew her finger along its edge.  Blood immediately spurted from the cut.  Perfect.

For the fifth time that morning, Teresa opened her mouth to ask Gabe what the hell was going on, and for the fifth time she closed it again.  He didn't exactly have an expression on his face that invited conversation.

He hadn't said a word to her since she asked Gabe where Lian was, when they were still at the airport.  He had simply said, "She's not coming," and walked away.  Teresa wondered what he was so pissed off about, but finally decided not to ask.  It was his problem.

"Teresa, do you think that this is a bad idea?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean do you think this is a trap and we shouldn't bother?"

Teresa Lipan had never lied to a friend in her entire life.  "Yes I think it's a trap and I think it's a bad plan to raid this place without Lian or any backup.  Why are we alone, anyway?"  There, she asked him.

"I figured this was a trap, so I wanted as few people involved as possible.  But I still had to try Teresa.  This is our only lead."

"So Lian isn't here because you don't want her to get hurt?"

"No, Lian isn't here because… because I already hurt her."  He looked down and started to inspect his rifle.

"What do you mean?  What are you talking about?"

Gabe sighed.  "We got in an argument and I lost my temper and told her not to come."

"And then you changed the departure time to make sure she didn't come," Teresa finished for him.  "What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked before she checked her naturally volatile temper.

"Hey, I was really pissed off right then," Gabe responded in a half-hearted attempt to defend his actions.

"But you're not now?"

"…No.  I'm not.  I was just remembering our conversation and thinking that I sounded like a complete ass."

"Well, you were being an ass.  Lian cares about you, and doesn't want to see you get hurt.  That's why she kept on insisting that this was a trap and that we proceed more cautiously.  And you were too big of an idiot to heed her advice and managed to hurt her feelings in the process.  Way to go."

"Okay, okay.  I promise to apologize as soon as I see her."

_If you see her, Teresa couldn't help thinking.  She considered tormenting Gabe some more, but one look in his eyes told her that he was already sufficiently sorry for what he did.  Teresa grabbed a stick of gum from her bag and began making final checks on her weapons and communications equipment._

Three hours later, they reached the drop zone.  The general plan was quite simple: find the mainframe and download as much information as possible, and eliminate Aramov if she's on site.  

Gabe tried to concentrate on the job at hand rather than think about a certain woman with dark brown eyes.  He wasn't really succeeding.  He hated himself for going off on her about something so trivial.  Teresa was right, after all.  Lian said what she did because she didn't want anyone to get hurt.  If he had acted like a civilized human being, he would've tried to explain his own actions to her.  Instead, he let the lack of sleep and the overabundance of stress get to him.  That bothered him, too.

Now Gabe was able to focus as his combat instincts kicked in.  He had reached the perimeter of the complex.  There were three warehouses on the site; Gabe was to search the north and west buildings while Teresa took the south.  He scanned the area around the fence while hiding behind a bush.  No guards were in sight.  Warning bells immediately went off, but he forced himself to ignore them.  There was no turning back now.

He contacted Teresa over the radio.  "I've reached the fence.  All is quiet," he whispered.  Just because he couldn't see anyone didn't mean that they couldn't hear him.

"A little too quiet?" Teresa's voice whispered in his ear.  He had the earpiece set on  a low volume, too.

"Yeah.  Keep your eyes open, okay?"

"Sure thing, boss.  And watch your six," she responded and signed off.

Gabe scanned the area once more before he climbed the chain link fence.  He didn't really like dealing with barbed wire while on top of a 10 foot tall fence, but a patrol was bound to spot a cut in the fence.  Gabe luckily managed not to get stuck and jumped down on the other side.  He was in.

"He's in," Wan Li, Aramov's lieutenant, reported from her station on top of the north warehouse.  Li had been one of Shi Hao's people before he was assassinated.  At the time Li had been working with Aramov to help with the sale of Syphon Filter and decided to stay after her organization crumbled.  Mara rather liked the girl, and she was a lot smarter than any of Rhomer's idiot henchmen.

"Excellent.  We'll grab him when he's in position.  I just got a report from Team Two.  They have caught sight of Lipan and will take care of her shortly," Mara responded, smiling.

"Why wait?  He's just one man, and we know he's alone.  We could take him…"

"I've learned over the years to never underestimate Gabriel Logan," Aramov interrupted, her smile fading as she thought of how many times that _nezakonnorozedennee__**[1]**__ had screwed up her plans.  Not this time.  He was walking into her hands, and she wasn't going to let him slip through her fingers.  "I'm sure I don't have to remind you of the importance of patience in our line of work," she added, allowing a subtle hint of reproach in her tone._

Li caught it.  "Of course not, Miss Aramov.  I will not question your orders again."

"Questions are the only way we learn.  You may question, Li, as long as you obey."  Aramov smiled at her protégé again.  She was in a good mood.

Li caught that too.  "Yes, Comrade General," she replied in a rare jest.  Both had given up the life of good little communists years ago.  All they both wanted was the money to retire in the luxury they were denied throughout their lives.  Communism was just a way for the government to enslave the weak.  

Mara and Li could get all the money they wanted from the sale of Syphon Filter.  The only thing standing in the way of that sale was Logan and his pathetic excuse of an Agency.  And today he was going to die.  Yes, Aramov was in a very good mood.

Teresa decided that it was women's intuition that caused her to duck behind a large boulder a split-second before the first shot was fired.  Thanking her lucky stars, she turned her weapon towards the area where the shot was fired from and risked a peek over the top of the rock.  Damn, she still couldn't see her assailant.

Another shot passed by her head, this one grazing her cheek.  Immediately, Teresa ducked back down again, this time thankful that the shooter was an amateur.  A still target from that range was an exercise shot for any seasoned soldier.

"Gabe," she yelled into her headset, "I've been spotted and I'm pinned down by an unknown number of tangos."  

No response.

"I'm gonna need some help here!"

Static.

"Dammit, where the hell are you?"

"Freeze!" an unfamiliar voice shouted from her left.  That wasn't exactly the response she was looking for.  Teresa's mind ran through dozens of options, from kneeing the guy in the crotch and running for it to going full automatic.  She narrowed it down to one.  With a sigh, Teresa surrendered.

"Teresa, I've reached the north building."  The all too familiar sound of background noise was Gabe's only response.  "Teresa, do you copy?"

Nothing.  She was gone.

He started thinking of all of the things that could've happened to her, but he didn't get very far before he found himself surrounded by terrorists.  Gabe ducked behind a large crate, spraying the area around him with HK-5 bullets to keep the enemy from advancing while he tried to figure out how the hell he was going to get out of this one.  Aramov's men had him completely surrounded.

"It's over, Logan," a familiar, taunting female voice announced from a loud speaker.  "Drop your weapons."

_Sorry, Aramov, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, was his unspoken response.  Gabe pulled a grenade off his belt, armed it, and threw it at a batch of terrorists.  Then he charged the other flank._

He didn't get very far.  All he heard was the sound of something large dropping to the floor right behind him.  Before he could turn around, the world went black.

1.  My Romanized approximation of the Russian word for "bastard."  Sorry, my Cyrillic is a little rusty. 

  


* * *

[1] Russian approximation for "bastard."  Sorry, it was the best I could do.


	5. Rescue

"Well done, Li," Aramov complimented her protégé.

"There was no challenge, Miss Aramov.  He was facing the other way," Li responded humbly, but inside she was glowing.  Aramov was far quicker to reprimand then to commend.  She looked down at the crumpled form of the American man Aramov hated so much on the ground surrounded by men with PK-102s.  "Now what do we do with him?"

"Have him taken to cold storage.  See to it that he is heavily guarded.  I will deal with him later.  Now I must see to Lipan."  At that, Aramov left the warehouse.

Li turned to her subordinates.  None of them were particularly bright, but they knew how to follow orders.  Rhoemer, and Aramov after him, was in the habit of executing those who didn't.  "You heard her, move him.  Let's go!"  Some men grabbed the still unconscious Logan, while the remainder of the ambush team took up flanking positions around the prisoner.  She stopped two of them.  "Take care of the bodies," she ordered, pointing to their comrades who had fallen victim to the American spy.  Eight corpses for one man.  Aramov didn't seem to be upset about the loss of personnel, though.  Not much, Li decided, bothered the Russian woman.

Drawing her own weapon, Li followed Logan and his escort to the cold storage area.  She definitely didn't ever want to find herself in Logan's position.

At first, Aramov was going to take care of Logan personally, but, she decided, that Lipan would require her attention first.  The woman, who had proved as difficult to kill as her colleagues, was still conscious, and would probably be trying to escape.  _Work first, then fun, she reminded herself.  Logan would keep, and she would have plenty of time to make sure he suffered before he died after she had taken care of Lipan._

Just as Aramov expected, the feisty desert girl was giving her captors a hard time.  The men were clearly giving her a wide berth.  Mara hid a smile.  One of Lipan's best talents was her ability to irritate the hell out of people.  It made her seem tougher than she actually was.

Lipan spoke first.  "So nice to see you again, Aramov.  I see you haven't quite outgrown your taste in skanky clothes."

Aramov laughed sarcastically.  "I just _love that sense of humor of yours, girl."_

"I aim to please.  So what do you want with me?"

"What I really want is for you to die, but I'm afraid that will have to wait for the time being.  I have some shipping deadlines to make, and you're going to help me make them," Aramov replied, smiling cruelly.  She nodded to a man behind Lipan, who gave her a shot of tranquilizer.  

One of the downsides of Syphon Filter was that it was most efficiently produced in a human  being.  Unfortunately for Lipan, Mara had run out of minions who were too stupid to follow orders.  Aramov would've loved to watch Logan die slowly and painfully at the mercy of the virus, but holding him for the time required was just too dangerous.  No, it was better to kill him quickly.

_But not to quickly, she thought to herself with another smile.  Turning from Lipan's unconscious form on the concrete floor, Aramov went off to check on her prize._

Gabe dreamed that he had a hangover.  When he woke up, he wished that was the case.  He had his hands chained to what looked like a meat rack above his head.  His feet were just barely touching the ground.  Gabe sighed, seeing his breath as he exhaled.  Only then did he realize how cold it was.  He was in a meat locker.

_Great.__  This is going to be fun, he thought darkly.  Aramov picked that exact moment to show herself._

"Ah, Logan," she said with a cruel smile, "good to see you.  I trust that you have been treated well."

"If you call being ambushed then attacked from behind then waking up in a meat locker good treatment, then sure."

"Oh, don't worry, my dear friend, it will get worse before it gets better.  When I'm through with you, you'll wish you were in hell."

"I'll meet you there.  We can do lunch sometime."  At that, Aramov punched him in the stomach.

"Is that all you've got, bit--" he was cut off this time by a kick to the jaw.  It made a lovely popping sound.  Gabe decided not to talk after that, and Aramov, too, said nothing, but he could tell by the look in her eyes that the sadist was thoroughly enjoying herself.  After what seemed like hours, Gabe fell unconscious again.  _Lian! he called out with his last thought._

Lian woke with a start.  She had the strangest feeling of someone calling her name.  Deep in her heart, she knew Gabe was in trouble.

She looked down at her watch.  The bus would be arriving at the town near the warehouses soon.  Lian had opted for public transportation, just in case Aramov had people monitoring military traffic.  From the village, it was only a 10 kilometer walk to the perimeter fence of the warehouse facility.  Luckily, winter nights in this part of Germany were long, and there was no snow.

The bus finally arrived at the depot.  Lian stretched and prepared for the last leg of the journey.

                                    *                      *                      *

She found the fence about forty-five minutes later, barely out of breath.  Not wanting to risk sneaking around the warehouses after dawn, she had run the entire way.  Lian pulled out night vision goggles out of her backpack and used them to survey the area.  She didn't see any guards along the fence, but there were some patrols near the gate and around the building.  From this corner, things looked pretty quiet.

Lian took her jacket off to keep it from snagging on the barbed wire.  Since she used civilian transportation, she was wearing civilian clothes, a black tank top and a pair of jeans.  It was a chilly night, but Lian ignored it.  She'd endured far colder weather.  Lian climbed the fence and landed on the other side with catlike grace.

Just in time.  As soon as she landed, a patrol came into view from the far side of the north building.  She immediately fell prone, not daring to move.  The terrorist had a flashlight, but he wasn't particularly looking for anything, let alone a woman hiding in the grass.  He passed her without stopping, and continued is route around the warehouse.

Lian left her hiding spot and headed for the opposite side of the building.  When she reached the wall, she peeked around the corner.  Damn, there was a guard in front of the door, and an overhead halogen light illuminated the entire area.  She'd have to find another way in.

As quiet as a wraith, she left the door guard and followed the patroller's route to the other side of the building.  This side was empty, except for a pile of boxes.  No way in over here, either.  Lian went to check out the fourth side.  She was just about to peek around the corner, but then she stopped short when she heard a voice.

"Is the chopper ready?" a woman with a Chinese accent asked.  Lian recognized the accent as someone from Heilongjiang, so she supposed the woman was one of Shi Hao's people.

"Yes, ma'am," was the response, this time from a man with the accent she'd learned to associate with Rhoemer's terrorists.  "She's ready to go, the pilot is awaiting your instructions."

"Go to him.  Tell him to wait for me, I'll be there when we're ready to move out."

"Yes, Miss Wan," the man said, and walked off.  The woman started walking towards Lian.  She flattened herself against the wall and hid in the shadows.

She had a plan.

When Wan passed her, Lian came out of her cover.  One kick to the head and the woman was out cold.  Lian quickly pulled her into the shadows, studying her.  _Yes, this might work, she thought.  Wan looked enough like her to fool a casual observer, even though the girl was considerably shorter.  Lian remedied that problem by substituting Wan's heeled boots for her own flats, but put on the rest of her clothes.  The skirt was way too short for Lian's comfort; Wan must've been taking fashion lessons from Aramov.  Stifling a giggle, Lian arranged her hair in a similar style and dragged the girl over to the boxes.  She was able to open one and stash the girl and Lian's old clothes inside easily enough._

Wondering absently if Gabe would ever recognize her, she went again to the other side of the warehouse and didn't stop to look at the guard as she walked through the door.

_Where the hell is Li? Aramov asked herself for the third time in as many minutes.  The girl usually reported in every thirty minutes, but no one had seen her in forty.  It wasn't like Li to be late._

"Stay here," she ordered Logan's guard.  "If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, finish him and head for the transport."

"Yes, ma'am."

"When I find that girl, I am going to give her a piece of my mind," Aramov mumbled under her breath as she headed off to look for her lieutenant.

Aramov stormed down the hall.  Lian barely had the time to get out of sight.  The Russian woman didn't look very happy, but at least she was out of the way.  From what Lian gathered from Aramov's conversation with the guard, Gabe was probably in there.  She could handle one guard, but Aramov was another story.

Once she could no longer hear Aramov's footsteps down the corridor, Lian stepped into the guard's view.

"Miss Wan!  Miss Aramov just went looking for you!  She seemed…" Lian shot him neatly in the head with her silenced pistol.

Stepping over the body, Lian opened the heavy door of what looked like some sort of cold storage facility.  Gabe was hanging from a meat rack, his body limp.  For a second, she feared that she had arrived too late, but then he moved, groaned, and opened his eyes.

"Lian… Am I dead?" he asked.

"You're talking, aren't you?" Lian responded, moving closer to remove the chains from his wrists.  They were badly bruised.  She didn't want to know where else he'd been hurt.

Detached from the meat rack, Gabe could barely support his own weight.  He steadied himself on his shoulder, and after a few moments he looked stable enough to walk.

"Let's get out of here, Lian.  Where's Teresa?"

Lian frowned.  She was pretty sure that Teresa was the woman Wan was moving on the helicopter, but now wasn't the time to tell Gabe about that.  "She's not here."

He probably knew she wasn't telling the whole truth, but he didn't say anything more about their friend as they headed for the perimeter fence.

The facility had been all but deserted.  "Aramov must've known we had come after you and decided to pull out," Lian mused.

"Yeah, we'll find her."

"Together?" she asked.

"Together." he replied, as they headed for the gate.


	6. Planning Revenge, Playing Solitare, and ...

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updatage.  I've had a lot of tests 'n stuff these past few weeks.  I do hope to get this back on track though.  This chapter doesn't have much action in it, but I hope it does keep you interested.  Well, have fun reading, and thanks to Lady Croft and Bluefire for the reviews.

Gabe woke up on an aircraft bunk.  Immediately he realized that it was time for another round of pain medication.  Luckily, Aramov hadn't broken anything, but he still had a lot of cuts and bruises.

"How do you feel?" a familiar voice with a touch of concern asked him.  He looked up and saw Lian, looking back at him over her laptop.

"Let's just say I wish she had run me over with a semi instead," he replied, stretching, then wincing as he flexed his abused muscles.

"I'm sorry.  I should've gotten there sooner."

"After what I said to you, I wouldn't have blamed you if you hadn't shown up at all."

"I'm sorry for that, too," she said, obviously referring to their argument.  _How long ago was that?  he wondered, suddenly realizing that he'd lost complete track of time.  "I know better than to snap like that," she continued, eyes cast downward, "I just didn't want anyone to get hurt."_

"I know," he soothed, getting up and sitting beside her.  "I should've done a better job explaining my reasons, too.  I was just tired, and I know that's no excuse."

"Of course it is.  You hadn't slept in three days, that can wear anyone down.  I was tired, too."

"We've never bickered like that before, Lian.  What does it mean?"

"That we're human," she replied, looking up at him again.  "No one gets along all the time.  I'd say we've had a pretty unusual track record so far."  She smiled.  "Truce?"

"Truce," he repeated, smiling back at her, his first smile in days.  Or what he thought was days.  "One more question."

"What's that?"

"Just what the hell are you wearing?" he asked, running a critical eye over her attire.  In the fifteen years he had known her, Gabe had never seen Lian in anything that short.

She laughed, somewhat nervously.  "Oh, I 'borrowed' some clothes to help me blend in a little at the complex.  I didn't have time to retrieve my own clothes afterward."

"Oh."

"I take it you don't approve?" she asked mock-innocently, with a mischievous smile.

"No… no, of course not.  It's just I… um… nevermind."  Now it was his turn to look down at the floor.

Lian laughed and placed her hand on his arm.  "I'm glad you're back."

"I just wish that all of us were coming back."

Lian's smile faded.  "Hey," she gave his arm a light squeeze, "We'll find her."

"But will we find her soon enough?" Gabe asked glumly.

"You don't think that Teresa is just going to let them kill her, do you?  She'll put up a fight.  And we have a trail to follow now.  We'll find her," she repeated.

"I should've gone alone."

"Don't be ridiculous.  Who would keep you out of trouble?"  Lian gave him another smile, but it seemed a little hollow.

Gabe gave her an equally hollow glare.

"Don't look at me like that, Logan," she said, a little harshly, "I'm not going to let you beat yourself up over this.  She knew the risks, and she went with you anyway.  There was nothing you could do to stop her," her words echoed the ones from Teresa's "funeral," when Gabe had held himself responsible for Teresa's near-fatal injuries.

All Gabe could do was nod.  In response, Lian rested her head on his shoulder.  She was worried about Teresa, too.  Not really knowing what else to do, he ran his fingers through her glossy black hair.  Suddenly, she sat back up.  "Try to get some rest," she told him, "You look like hell."  And with that she walked towards the rear of the plane, leaving her computer on the chair.

Aramov was not happy, but at least she wasn't downright pissed, Li reflected while she held ice to the welt that had already begun to form on her head.  Her superior was reading some files—that was a good sign.  Aramov never read anything when she was angry.  She would be prowling around the aircraft looking for someone to kill.  And Li knew that she probably would've become Aramov's first victim.

Li had overseen a lot of missions in her short life, but she had never failed one.  Losing Logan was a blow to her honor; she would have to make sure that she personally took him out when he inevitably came to rescue his friend Lipan.

Him and his bitch of a partner.

Making sure Aramov wasn't looking at her, she allowed herself to smile.  Yes, she had to kill them both.

Aramov decided that she would wait until they got back to base before heads would start to roll.  And roll they would.  There was no way in hell that Xing would've gotten into the complex, and out, with _Logan, unless someone seriously screwed up._

She also decided that it wasn't Li.  The girl was used to planning petty raids and staging political intrigue.  She was trained well in martial arts, but Aramov doubted that she had ever fought against anyone who was a match for her.  

And Xing, damn her, was a match for just about anyone.

The only reason that Aramov was able to keep some semblance of calm was that their primary objective was accomplished.  They had Lipan.  Watching her suffer and die would be consolation for not killing Logan.  In fact, she thought smiling, seeing one of his friends die might cause him even more pain than what she could physically inflict upon him.

Her watch beeped, signaling the hour.  Still another forty-five minutes before they landed.  Aramov closed the file and her eyes, thinking of who was going to be made an example.  The dumbshits guarding Warehouse 1: yes, they definitely had to go.  Xing just waltzed by them…

The plane shuddered slightly in turbulence, but it was enough to wake Lian up.  She sat up from her rather uncomfortable resting place, but didn't observe the low ceiling before it was too late.  Swearing, she rolled off the shelf, not wanting to take any more chances with the ceiling.  The cargo hold was called a cargo hold for a reason: it was meant to hold cargo, not people.  The cargo hold?  What the hell was she doing in the cargo hold?

Lian stretched as her mind went through her conversation with Gabe.  As usual, any close contact with him was enough to freak her out, and she had hidden down in the cargo hold to figure things out.  And, of course, thinking about her life was so damn interesting that she had fallen asleep in the process.

Her muscles screamed in protest at their mistreatment as she climbed up the ladder and through the crawlspace that would lead back to the cabin.  She would've rather been alone, but she couldn't avoid Gabe forever.  He would be wondering where she was, and she really did enjoy his company, whether she admitted it or not.

Lian exited the crawlway and stood to her full height.  Oh, yeah.  Definitely one of those caffeine and aspirin sort of days.  Rubbing her neck, she headed towards the front of the cabin where she had last seen her partner.

He hadn't moved, but he had grabbed her computer and had his back to her.  She looked over his shoulder at the screen and smiled.  He was playing solitaire.  Good to know that some things never changed.  Gabe always played solitaire when he was tired of working.

"Hey," she greeted him.  Gabe jumped at the sound of her voice.  Apparently he hadn't heard her come up behind him.  "What?" she teased, "I couldn't possibly have snuck up on _you, could I?"_

"Of course not," he replied with mock-seriousness.  "I wasn't expecting you to say something so soon."

She smiled at his excuse.  This was more of the Gabe she knew, not the sad, self-blaming man she had comforted earlier.  "Uh huh.  Right."

"Yeah, so where the hell did you run off to?" he asked, returning her smile.

Her mind raced to come up with a good excuse.  Damn, she should've come up with one earlier.  "I wanted to stretch, but I didn't want to bother you," she answered after a negligible pause.  "You're supposed to be sleeping," she added, to change the subject.

"I've been sleeping for… however long I was out."

"Six hours," Lian supplied.

"Yeah, six hours.  I'm not tired."

"Oh really," she said, sitting beside him.  "You certainly look tired."  She studied his face.  He was really doing a good job to hide his exhaustion, but she knew him better than that.  Gabe never told anyone he was tired until he was fifteen minutes short of falling into a coma.

"And you certainly don't look well-stretched," he replied, gesturing to the neck she was still rubbing.

"Well, the ceiling is a little low back there."

"Uh huh.  Right."

"Don't give me that.  You're the one who's supposed to be getting lots of rest.  Now take some aspirin and lay down.  And get me some too while you're at it."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am," he replied with a salute.  Gabe grabbed the med kit that contained the pain killers, took two, and passed the bottle to Lian, who only took one.  

They sat in silence.  Lian closed her eyes and leaned back, but after a while sensed that Gabe was watching her.  Quickly growing uncomfortable from his attention, she opened her eyes and broke the silence.

"So how many games have you played?" she asked, looking at his hand of solitaire.

"Oh, I don't know, about ten.  Okay, maybe closer to thirty," he responded with a quiet laugh.

"And how many of those have you won?"

"Two," he admitted after a pause.

"Two?" Lian laughed.  "Only two?"

"The damn thing cheats, I swear!"

"Hey, _my computer does not cheat.  You just suck."_

"I do not!  How could I possibly suck?  You know how much I play this damn game."

"Uh huh.  Right."

"Hey, I bet you can't win the first one."

"Maybe not, but I can definitely beat two out of thirty!"

"Alright, prove it."

"No.  I have better things to do than play solitaire."

"Like what?"

"Like… umm… getting a heat pack for my neck," she replied and got up to search the med kit.  There wasn't one in there, so she headed towards the back of the cabin where more supplies were stored.  She was rummaging through a box when Gabe came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Just relax, okay?" he said, obviously feeling her tense.  Gabe began to gently rub his fingers into the base of her neck.  What the hell was up with this?  First she rests her head on his shoulder, and now she's getting neck massages?  What was next, hugs?  She wasn't even going to go there, but she decided not to pull away.  She couldn't run from him, and whatever he was doing to her neck did feel pretty good.


	7. Eva

Tick.  Tock.

_Where am I?  What happened?_

Tick.  Tock.  Tick.

_What the hell?  Where's Aramov?_

Tock.

_What is that goddamn noise?_

The bright light blinding her eyes focused into a small room while the distinct ticking sound faded into the background noise of a clock on the wall.  The room had been stripped of all furniture, so Teresa could not guess its original purpose.  For now it was a prison.  A room with white concrete walls that contained nothing but a clock, and a bound and dazed Teresa.

_Well, if whatever Aramov does to me doesn't kill me, sheer boredom will.  What does the bitch have in store for me anyway?  Oh, shit, that's right, she's gonna use me to manufacture more of the virus!_

"Damn." Teresa swore aloud as she attempted to stand up and assess her physical situation.  A little wobbly, but that was more likely the result of whatever they were doping her up with to keep her asleep.  She brought her bound hands up to her forehead.  No fever.  Well, that was a good sign.  You could've cooked breakfast on Lian's head when she was sick.

_So I'm either not infected yet or was infected recently.  This is just great.  I've so gotta get out of here._

Teresa looked down at her hands.  Her wrists had been bound together with a generous amount of duct tape.  She shrugged, sat back down on the floor, and tore at the tape experimentally with her teeth.

_God, this stuff tastes like crap.  Well, it's not like I have anything better to do.  Brushing her hair behind her ear, Teresa started chewing in earnest._

A loud thump caused Gabe to look up from the intelligence reports he was scanning over.  Picking a single private aircraft out of the hundreds of planes that flew over Europe was by no means easy, but he was getting close.  He was able to narrow the number of planes that could've been Aramov's down to 263.  Only 262 more to go, and they'd have something concrete to find a location.

Gabe realized that the noise had come from Lian banging her head up against the wall she was resting her back up against.  "No luck?" he asked.

"Not yet," she replied with a sigh of frustration.  Lian was trying to reconstruct the data that was in a wiped hard drive.  "Whoever deleted this stuff, did a half-assed job, because the drive hasn't been completely reformatted.  All the ones and zeroes are there, but it's getting them organized so that they make sense…"

"Why don't you take a break.  You've been at it for hours.  Let Dylan or someone do it."

"I would, but Dylan went home hours ago and I don't trust any of our other decrypt people with this.  It's not your typical hack and it requires special training.  Training that none of our younger people have."

"Then get Dylan's ass over here.  Come on, Lian, you working on it as tired as you are can do as much damage as letting one of the kids downstairs work on it."

"I'm fine, Gabe.  I've done harder stuff when I was a lot more tired than this."

"Lian…"

"Okay, okay," she caved, "Lemme try one last thing, then I'll go get some coffee."

"No, you'll try one last thing, then you'll go take a nap."

She glared at him, then conceded.  He knew she was more tired than she was letting on.  Turning back to her work, she entered some commands into her laptop, which was connected to one of the big decrypt computers downstairs.  Lian set down the laptop while the computers processed her request and walked over to where Gabe was sitting.

"How's your end coming?" she asked.

"Slowly, but I'm making progress," he replied, trying to sound optimistic.  "I hope I can find her in the USAF radar records, or we're pretty much SOL."

"I'm sure you'll find it.  The Air Force is pretty thorough with its air traffic scans and you're pretty thorough with your record scans."  She smiled at him, and Gabe felt that he could face the records for a few more hours.

Lian's computer beeped, and she went over to it.  "Hey, I think I may have something."

"What is it?" he asked, joining her in front of the screen.

"It looks like a deleted email.  It's pretty badly scrambled, and it looks like it was encrypted on top of that, so it's going to take some time to crack.  But it's a file, and most of it's there," she looked up at him, "I guess this means I have to postpone my nap."

"Not a chance.  Make a copy of it and send it to the guys downstairs.  I know that they can handle this part."

"But…"

"That's an order, Lian.  Nap, now."

Lian sent him a glare as her protest, but she knew that Gabe wasn't going to let her continue working.  "Yes, sir," she replied sarcastically.  "But you wake me up as soon as they get done, ya hear?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, matching her tone.

Lian went to the closet and pulled a blanket off the shelf, then returned to the couch and laid down.

"Um, Lian, what are you doing?"

"I'm taking a nap, smart one."

"I see that, but in here?"

"Well this is my office, isn't it?

"Oh, yeah.  Sorry," he replied, and got up to leave.

"I didn't say you had to go."

"I don't want to bother you."

"You're not bothering me.  I'll be out cold in about thirty seconds anyway."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"Positive.  Now shut up, I'm trying to sleep," and then she was out.  Gabe sat back down at the other end of the couch with his files, and set about once more eliminating planes from his list, trying not to think about how cute Lian was when she was asleep.

"I hope you all see now that I will _not tolerate any more mistakes.  Any questions?" Silence.  "Good.  Now, you," Mara ordered to a terrorist standing to her left, "dispose of those."  She indicated the three dead bodies on the floor.  "Wan, come with me."  At that, Mara set off at a brisk pace towards the makeshift holding cells.  It was time to check on Lipan._

The guards outside Lipan's cell tensed when she and Li neared.  Good.  She like her men to be sufficiently scared of her.  Without ceremony, she unlocked the door and walked inside.

The duct tape around Lipan's small wrists had been nearly chewed off, and there were pieces of it still stuck to the American girl's mouth.  She looked so silly Mara had to laugh.  "Well, well, you've been a busy girl," Aramov taunted.

"Well if you didn't want me gnawing at your precious duct tape, you should've given me a deck of cards or something."

"Find our accommodations lacking, princess?  I'm so sorry.  I'll make sure all of your needs are attended to as soon as possible." Mara replied sarcastically.

"Good, cuz I've really got to pee."

"Don't worry, the doctors will be ready for you soon, and I'm sure they'll want a urine sample."

"Okay, I'll just cross my legs until then.  Are you going to give me any fresh duct tape to chew through?"

Mara laughed again.  "No, I think it will be far more amusing to see you in here bouncing off the walls when you have nothing else to do.  Well, if there's nothing else, we must be going.  Always good to chat with you, girl."

"Yeah, whatever," Lipan mumbled and went back to her duct tape.

When they were out of earshot of the guards, Li turned to her.  "Shouldn't we restrain her, ma'am?  She's a trained agent; what if she finds a way out?"

"Learning caution, are we Li?  Don't worry, by tomorrow she'll be too weak to even think about escaping.  And until then, those bricks outside the door will keep her from finding her way out."

Li nodded in assent.  "If you will give me leave, I have some things that require my attention."  Mara nodded, and Li left.  The girl was always working; she never took any time to enjoy her work.  Well, as long as she remained useful.

Lian woke with a start, realizing immediately that she had slept a lot longer than she should have.  She looked at her watch.  0600.  Morning?

"Gabe, why the hell didn't you wake me up?" she asked, but received no answer.  "Gabe?"

She sat up and looked around.  Her office was empty.  Suppressing a groan, Lian got up and grabbed some clean clothes and locked her door to get dressed.

When she was finished, she left her office in search of her partner and coffee, in no particular order.  _Though Gabe will no doubt prefer to run into me after I get a hold of some caffeine, she thought._

Lucky for him, she found one of those cold chocolate coffee things first.  The chocolate actually went a long way to cover up the otherwise vile flavor, so she was approaching a somewhat agreeable mood by the time she found Gabe in the basement with the decrypt people.

The Agency's decrypt center, more commonly called the Dungeon, was in it's usual state: dark and filled with people who did not see the sun anywhere near as often as they should.  Gabe stood out as the only one with muscles and a tan.  As she walked over to him, she considered whether she should kick his ass right now or wait until they were alone.  

She opted for a compromise.  When no one was looking, she came up beside him and hit him across the back of the head.

"Oww.  What the hell was that for?" he asked.

"For not waking me up," she replied, glaring at him.

"I was going to, I promise."  Gabe held his hands up in his traditional defensive gesture.

She held the glare for a few more seconds, then decided to torment him more later.  "What've ya got?" she asked, leaning closer to him to read what was on the computer screen in front of him.

"This is what we've been able to get from the email so far.  It's to Aramov from, well, just read it."

Aramov, we're ready for her here, but we're going to need a blood sample before we can actually sta#%@(%)$#__+king on the new strain.  If you don't *(&&#$^r here in 48 hours, we *#$&(*#&%*&#(^#)*$(#)ine.

One more thing.  If you hu*&(*&^%%^$%^%&*()(*^%$#()(*lp me God I will kill you.

            -Dr. Elsa Wei$%#nger

"Weissinger?  I wonder what Aramov has that would force Elsa to work for her again.  They didn't part on the best of terms."

"Well, it's pretty clear that whatever it is, it's really important to her."

"Do we have Weissinger's dossier on file?  There's something I want to look up."

"Yeah, I had it pulled, but the archives guy hasn't gotten back to me yet."

"How long does it take to pull a damn file?"

"Apparently a long time when you're the only one on duty.  Flu hit that department hard."

"Are we sure we shouldn't be quarantining the archives guy?" she asked, half serious.  Lian had no intentions of getting sick.  Not now.

Her comment earned a laugh from her partner.  "We'll hose him down, before we let him down here, how's that?"  Now it was her turn to laugh, picturing some wet intern handing them a equally wet folder.

At that moment, Dylan came up to them.  "Ms. Xing," he began timidly, maneuvering himself between Gabe and Lian, "I went through that hard drive with everything I know.  I don't think we're going to get anymore out of it."

"Thank you, Dylan.  What about the email?"

"Well, we're still working on it, but the data's pretty scrambled.  I don't know how much more we're going to be able to sort out."

"That's okay.  We have most of it.  You and your team are doing a good job."

Dylan smiled.  "Thank you, Ms. Xing," he excused himself and went back to work.

"I'm gonna go harass the archives guy," she told Gabe, "Will you let me know if anything comes up?"

"Hey, wait, I'll come with you," he called after her.

When he caught up and they were out of earshot he whispered.  "He has a crush on you."

"Who?"

"Who do you think?  Hacker boy."

"Dylan?"

"Yeah.  Did you see him?  He was totally ignoring me."

"Dylan's just not comfortable around people he doesn't know.  You know that."

"So you _know Dylan now?" he asked with a grin._

"What?  Are you jealous?" she replied, matching his tone.

"What would you do if I said yes?"

Lian tried to glare at him for that, but she knew she didn't succeed because Gabe started laughing.  She also knew by the look in his eyes that he wasn't entirely joking.

Forty-five.  Forty-six.  Forty-seven.  Teresa collapsed in exhaustion.  Had she really resorted to doing calisthenics?  Teresa had always hated doing pushups, yet here she was, on her third set today.

_I am not __giving that bitch the pleasure of seeing me crack, she thought fiercely.  She was trying to decide between sit ups and jumping jacks for her next activity when she heard a strange sound through the wall._

She thought at first that it was a figment of her imagination, but then the sound was repeated.  It sounded suspiciously like a whimper, or a cry.

"Hello?" she asked, as loudly as she dared.  The crying stopped.

"Is someone there?" a faint, high-pitched voice called back through the wall.  A young girl, Teresa decided.

"Yeah.  I'm Teresa.  What's your name?"

"Eva," the girl answered.  She had an accent, but Teresa couldn't place it.

"Are you okay, Eva?  Have they hurt you?"

"No," Eva sobbed, "I want my mommy."

"Do you remember how long you've been here?"

"I don't know.  A long time."

Teresa, being the oldest of three children, knew that "a long time" to a child could be three hours or three days or three weeks.  "What's your mommy's name, Eva?" she asked, hoping that the child would calm down if she were talked to.

"Elsa."  Elsa?  Elsa.  That name sounded familiar.

"Eva and Elsa.  Those are pretty names.  My mother's name is Natalie."

"Do you miss her, too?"

Teresa had to smile.  "Yeah, I do.  Where are you from?"

"Germany."  So that explained the accent.

"Really?  Germany is a really nice country.  I'm from the United States.  Why don't you tell me about your home, Eva, and I'll tell you about mine, okay?"

Eva agreed and started describing her home and her family.  The girl, Teresa noticed, sounded considerably more relaxed, and she was no longer sobbing.  Teresa, too, felt calmed by another voice.

"That's it!" Lian exclaimed after examining Weissinger's dossier for a few moments.

"What?" Gabe asked.  Sometimes Lian operated on a completely different planet.

"What drove Weissinger to work with Aramov.  What Aramov has that Elsa would be willing to kill her for.  Eva Weissinger.  Elsa has a daughter."

"What?" Gabe asked again, this time out of shock.  How could they have missed that?

"Aramov must've grabbed the kid, and used her to force Weissinger into making another strain of the virus.  We've gotta find her, too, Gabe."

"Yeah," was his detached reply.  Why would anyone, even a psycho like Mara, use a little girl like that?  "Alright, let's go work on those radar things some more.  I've got the list narrowed down to about 100, and it'll get done faster if we work together."

"Not so fast.  I'll do it alone.  You're taking a nap, and don't you even _think about arguing with me," Lian shot him a look that made it impossible for him to even come up with a reply.  He only nodded, and followed her back upstairs.  Damn, he must be tired if he wasn't going to bother arguing with Lian over sleep._

"Teresa Lipan, I've heard so much about you."  Dr. Elsa Weissinger addressed the smaller woman as if she was an ordinary patient in an ordinary clinic, not like she was going to extract blood so she could make a poison that was perfectly engineered to kill her.

"I can't say I can place your face with a name, Dr…"

"Weissinger.  Elsa Weissinger."

Lipan's eyes widened in recognition, and she leaned closer to Elsa and dropped her voice to a whisper.  "Elsa?  Are you Eva's Elsa?"

"Eva!  You've seen her?" Elsa had to struggle to keep her voice down.  

"Haven't seen her, but I've talked to her," Lipan whispered.  "She's okay, but she misses you."

"Damn that Russian woman.  I am going to kill her if that's the last thing I do…"

"Let's worry about revenge later," Lipan dropped her voice even further, "Do you wanna get outta here?"

"Of course… but Aramov… the guards… my daughter…"

"Leave the details to me; I'll come up with something.  Just don't kill me yet, okay?"

Elsa could only nod slightly, because their quiet conversation was starting to attract the guard's attention.  They would question her later, but they were idiots; she could make them believe whatever excuse she gave easily enough.  At that moment she would've told them to fuck off for all she cared.  Her baby girl was alright, and that woman Lipan was going to get her back.  Elsa had to take a deep breath to keep her hands from shaking in excitement as she drew blood from Lipan's arm.


	8. Planning and Analysis

Twenty-two left.  Lian smiled down at the aircraft list that was considerably shorter than when she had taken it from Gabe two hours before.  The smile was short lived, however, and faded once she realized she had no idea where to go from here.  Hoping to kindle some inspiration somehow, she went over to the dry erase board and wrote all of the flights on it.

Sure enough, she had an idea.  Grabbing more markers from her desk, she re-wrote all of the flights, color-coding them to which continent they arrived at.  Most went to Europe and North America, but there were a few flights to Asia and Africa.

Africa?

Lian knew that this detail was important somehow, but for the life of her, she couldn't get her muddled brain to jump to the conclusion she knew was in there somewhere.  She was so deep in thought she nearly screamed when someone put their hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't sneak up on _you, did I?" Gabe taunted drowsily.  He was stifling a yawn when Lian turned to face him.  She knew she'd never be able to convince him that she knew he was there, so she decided to change the subject without rebuttal and punched him in the arm.  "Hey, what was that for?" he asked, rubbing his arm._

"You're supposed to be sleeping," she replied, glaring at him crossly.

"You told me to take a nap," he answered innocently, "I think two hours constitutes a nap, don't you?"

"Don't give me that.  You look exhausted."  Her voice softened slightly.

"I'll get some coffee and I'll be fine.  No, I'm not going to sleep, Lian," he added when she opened her mouth to protest.  "So how's it going?"

"I've got it down to twenty-two, but I've run into a brick wall."

"Twenty-two, huh?"  He favored her with a smile.  "Damn, you're good.  So what's with all the colors?" Gabe asked, indicating the dry erase board.

"I didn't know what to do, so I color-coated them by continent."

"Wait a minute, Lian, I think you're on to something.  Only two of these flights were en route to Africa.  Remember Aramov's connection to ARC Industries?"

"That's it!" Lian exclaimed happily, "ARC Industries participates in humanitarian projects in Africa."

"Where Syphon Filter outbreaks have also been taking place."

"So Aramov has a base in Africa, using ARC Industries as a front to test another strain of the virus."

"And so Teresa will be there," he finished, smiling at his partner again.

Lian smiled back.  "We really do work well together, don't we?"

"Since day one."

"I'm glad you agree, because now you're going back to sleep while I go move some spy sats."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!" Gabe repeated in a juvenile fashion.

"Are too!"  At that, Lian took her dry erase marker and went for his face.  Gabe now had a bright red dot on the tip of his nose.

"Alright, you asked for it!"  Gabe grabbed a green marker and slashed it at her.  Lian parried with ease and thrust her own marker at his unprotected abdomen.  Gabe jumped back, causing her to miss, then grabbed the wrist of her armed hand and held it uselessly off to the side while pulling her closer.  

Lian was strong, but Gabe was stronger.  She crashed into him, and Gabe moved his hand, still holding her wrist, to the back of her neck, immobilizing her as he drew whiskers on her face.  She glared at him for a few moments, then, realizing just how close he was holding her, laughed and raised her free arm in surrender.

Gabe laughed too, and held her wrist for a few more heartbeats before wrenching the marker out of her grasp and letting it go.

"What?" Lian asked, "Don't trust me?"  She batted her eyelashes innocently before she realized that she was coming dangerously close to flirting with her best friend.  "Don't answer that," she added quickly and went to her desk to grab her mirror.  "I hope this stuff comes off."

"You should've thought about that before you attacked me with a marker."

"Alright, alright, you win.  You don't have to go to sleep.  God, how did your mother ever get you to go to bed?"

"She slipped some sedatives into our dinner."  Lian gave him a confused look.  "Joking," he added.

"Oh."  She smiled to conceal her thoughts.

"What?" he asked.  Obviously not fast enough.

Lian debated whether or not to tell him the truth.  One look into his eyes and she decided he didn't deserve to be lied to.  "It's just that…" she paused to think of the words.  Her English always failed her when she was tired or nervous.  Right now, she was both.  "It's something my mother would've done.  The sedatives, I mean," she stumbled through the words, knowing by the look on his face she probably wasn't making much sense.  Lian took a deep breath and continued.  "My mother was a complete psycho.  I wouldn't be surprised if she was schizophrenic, but of course there was no way of diagnosing or treating that in China.  She actually tried to kill me and my sister once."  She looked up from the floor to Gabe's face to gauge his reaction.  He was sad, but she didn't see much in the way of surprise.  Did he know?

"I'm sorry.  It must've been rough living with someone like that."

"Yeah, well, I got over it," Lian replied, removing all sentiment from her voice.  Now wasn't the time to think about her childhood.  "I'm gonna go move those satellites.  With some luck we'll be able to figure out which one of the airfields Aramov landed in and have some recon of the general area in a couple of hours.  Are you sure you don't want to get some sleep?"

"Positive.  I'll keep myself busy and out of your hair, I promise."

"I didn't mean it like that…"

"I know.  I'll keep ya informed, okay?" she turned to leave.

"Lian?"

"What?" she asked him, mentally bracing herself for another question about her mother and childhood.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"  After she shot him another confused look he ran his thumb over her marker whiskers. 

"Oh!  Thanks.  You're forgiven," she smiled in relief and headed towards the bathroom to clean her face off.

"Your progress, Doctor?" Mara asked the younger blonde.

"Good.  Her blood sample is being processed, and the virus should be ready for infection in about six hours," Weissinger replied in a businesslike tone, but Aramov could see the hatred in her eyes.  _Maybe, she thought, __kidnapping the daughter of one of the top biological weapons researchers in the world wasn't such a good idea.  Mara quickly dismissed the thought.  __There was no other way.  Like it or not, I need the bitch's help, and she wasn't likely to give it after what happened in __Australia__, even at gunpoint.  Aramov turned her full attention once more to the topic at hand._

"Splendid.  Remember, the faster you get this done, the sooner you can see your daughter.  I'll leave you with your work."  Dr. Weissinger nodded and returned her attention to a chart and Aramov left the room.

There was something about the whole situation that bothered her.  The good doctor was making no effort to conceal her hatred for Mara, and had more than once expressed the desire to kill her.  Aramov decided that she couldn't let Weissinger live any longer than absolutely necessary.  Once the virus was ready for shipment, she'd shut the blonde up for good.

"Teresa?" Eva's small voice came through the wall.  Teresa wasn't usually a light sleeper, but spending day after day on the cold concrete floor had just about worn her muscles, and her nerves, to a frazzle.  The voice was enough to wake her up.  She had grown used to waking up to her name being called through the wall.  Eva kept even earlier hours than she did.

"Hey, Eva.  How you doin'?" she asked, making her voice as cheerful as possible for the sake of the scared little girl.

"Okay.  Can you tell me about your friends?"

"My friends?  What do you wanna know?"

"What are they like?  I don't have a lot of friends.  We moved around a lot."

"Yeah, I know how that goes.  My father was in the military.  We moved all the time, too, when I was little."

"So you don't have any friends either?" the girl asked sadly.

"No, I have friends.  My best friend's name is Lian."

"Lian?  That's a pretty name."

"Yeah, it is.  It's Chinese.  She was born there."

"What is she like?"

"Well," Teresa paused to think.  _How, exactly do you describe Lian? "She's smart, and funny, and kind.  The type of person you can rely on, no matter what.  One of my other closest friends is Gabe."  Teresa winced.  Gabe.  What had happened to him?  Had he made it out?  She remembered calling him when she was about to be captured and not receiving a response, which meant that Aramov probably got him, which meant that he was probably dead.  Teresa choked back tears.  She had been trying not to think about him for the past three days, so now the realization that he was gone struck her full-force._

The little voice with the German accent interrupted her grief.  "What is he like?"

"Well," Teresa started, pitching her voice low to avoid betraying her emotions.  She knew she wasn't entirely succeeding; she wasn't as good at it as Lian, who was the only person Teresa knew that could appear calm when her life was crashing down around her.  She could almost picture Lian using every mask she knew when she found out Gabe was dead, which brought on a fresh batch of tears.  Teresa hoped the wall muffled her voice enough so the girl wouldn't notice.  "Gabe's strong, and caring, and friendly."  Teresa finished her response before the girl asked her if something was wrong.

"Do you miss them?" Eva asked.

"Yeah.  Yeah, I miss them.  Maybe Lian will be able to get us out," Teresa replied, changing the subject.

"Really?  Will she find my mommy, too?"

"Yeah."  Teresa decided that she wouldn't tell the girl that she'd seen Weissinger.  Eva couldn't have been older than six or seven, and she wouldn't have understood why her mother didn't come for her.  And explaining that her mom had been coerced into developing a biological weapon by a psychotic Russian terrorist hell-bent on killing as many people as she could because she thought it was fun was one conversation Teresa didn't want to have.  "And when we get out, we'll all go for ice cream, how's that?"  Teresa had discovered after a few conversations that Eva loved ice cream.  _A child after my own heart, she thought._

"Yea!"

Just then, one of the psychotic Russian terrorist's lackeys came for Teresa.  "Let's go," he ordered without ceremony.  She tried, and failed (for probably the first time in her life), to come up with an appropriate sarcastic response, so she quickly dried her eyes and followed the guard without a word.

"Alright, I've finished analyzing all this crap," Lian said in a rare display of exasperation.  He knew she had been pouring over satellite photos, intelligence reports, and (his personal nemesis) maps for hours.  Then her irritation was gone and she was all business again.  "Spy sats were able to confirm a settlement in the mountains of Ethiopia, about 100 clicks outside Addis Adaba.  Intel says the compound was inhabited by ARC Industries personnel as a shipping and staging area for distributing AIDS cocktails to the local population, but it was abandoned six months ago when a slip in profits forced ARC to temporarily suspend the project."  She rolled her eyes to show what she thought of that explanation.  "Anyway," she continued, "Recon now shows that the structure is inhabited.  Armed guards patrol the perimeter, and they obviously weren't worried about attracting attention from the locals, cuz the place is locked up tight.  That, combined with the terrain, will make a direct assault impossible."

"So what about a covert assault?" Gabe asked, more to show that he was paying attention than anything else.  He knew Lian had everything taken care of.

"The building backs up against a mountain that is riddled with caverns.  ARC Industries had mapped most of them, and I just happened to stumble on a map.  There's a series of caverns that go through the mountain and lead right into the fortified area.  The going will be rough, but I believe we can get a small team through there unnoticed."

"Or it could be a trap."

"It could be, but I doubt it.  Even if Aramov has a complete map of the caverns, it's not likely that she'll have them guarded.  There's lot's of climbing involved to get through, and it'll take several days.  If anything, she'll have some thermal sensors in there or something, and those can be disabled pretty easily if we're careful."

"So _we're going now, huh?" he asked her._

"Well, I know _I am, and I'll have to take someone with me.  I think a team of two would be best," she replied seriously.  "I think this can work, Gabe," she added._

Gabe nodded.  He knew he would never be able to convince her not to go.  She and Teresa were close, and he had the feeling that she partially blamed herself for Teresa getting captured.  Well, he sure as hell wasn't going to let her go without him.

"Alright, director, when do we leave?" he asked with a smile.

"So _we're going now, huh?" she teased._

"Someone's gotta keep you out of trouble," he teased back.

"Alright, let's grab a Blackhawk, get our shit together, and go."

"Sounds good to me."  At that, Lian left to see to the flight and insertion arrangements while he went to go pack.  Now it was time for some action.

A/N: Sorry about the relatively action-free bunch of chapters.  They had to be done, so I tried to make them as interesting as possible.  Things will pick up after this, I promise.  Thanks to Sam for the review!


	9. Walls

A/N: This chapter is brought to you by my complete lack of desire to do my international studies paper.  Big thanks to Sam, Exhile87, and Lady Croft for the reviews!

"Wake up, sleeping beauty," a familiar voice intruded into her dreamless sleep.

Lian tried to say something along the lines of "fuck off," but the message got lost somewhere between her brain and her mouth and only came out as a whimper.  She clung to the comfortable darkness of sleep, trying desperately not to succumb to the voice that was so determined to pull unconsciousness away from her.  But the battle was lost before it began.  She was awake and there was nothing she could do about it.  Reluctantly, she opened her eyes.

"Good morning, sunshine," Gabe said cheerfully, giving her a light squeeze.  Lian had fallen asleep on his shoulder, and he had reached his arm across her back to touch her far shoulder when he was trying to wake her up.

"I don't see any sunshine," Lian replied, gently loosing herself from his grip to stretch.

"Maybe not, but it really is morning."  Gabe raised his arms over his head to stretch them, too.

"Are we almost to the insertion point?" Lian asked.

"Yep," Gabe replied with a smile.

"Well, aren't you in a good mood this morning?"

"Waking up next to you, who wouldn't?"  Lian backhanded him in the ribs.  "I guess you're not in such a good mood, are you?"

"Don't even try to be nice to me.  You woke me up," she retorted with a glare.

"I didn't want to, I swear!  Would you have preferred that just I threw you out of the chopper and prayed that you woke up before you hit the ground?"

"I would've gotten more sleep that way," she answered, already feeling her animosity slipping away.  _How does he always manage to diffuse me when I'm in a bad mood? she asked herself._

"Yeah, more sleep than you'd ever want."  Lian was laughing by now, and realized that she wasn't tired anymore.  The flight from Washington to Ethiopia was the only chance she'd had for a decent night's sleep for weeks.  She looked at her partner again and noticed the exhaustion which had been in his eyes for days was gone.  _No wonder he's in such a good mood.  "You might want to get your stuff together," Gabe said, interrupting her thoughts, "ETA ten minutes."_

"Right," she replied, and went about getting the equipment on the other side of the cabin attached to her person.  They were traveling light, since the caves were often treacherous and narrow, so there wasn't much to carry beyond what she always did, except for food and water.  It didn't take long for her or Gabe to get ready.

The pilot called over the comm. that they were over the drop point, and it was time to go.  "Ladies first," Gabe told her with a wink, stepping aside to give her room at the hatch.

"Gee, thanks," Lian replied and jumped.  Gabe followed her shortly afterwards, and they were on their way.

                                                *                      *                      *

"Damn, that was fun," were the first words out of Gabe's mouth when he met Lian outside the cave's entrance about fifteen minutes later.

"You really worry me sometimes, ya know that Gabe?" Lian asked him, but she was smiling.  She had decided a long time ago that her partner was crazy, and that she wouldn't have him any other way.

"Oh, come on, you thought it was fun, too.  Admit it."

"Let's just get into the cave and as far from the mouth as possible before the bats come back."

"Right.  _Vamanos__, amiga," he replied quickly.  Lian debated whether or not to tease him about his obvious dislike for the furry flying creatures, but Gabe didn't give her a chance to reply before he started off into the cave._

"_Espera__ para mi," she called after him.  Gabe turned around and gave her a confused look.  "Your Spanish a little rusty?" Lian asked sweetly._

"Uh, actually, funny thing is I never really learned that much of it."

Lian laughed.  "I told you to wait for me.  Shouldn't we check for motion and thermal sensors?"

"I'm not too worried about it.  With all the bats, it'd be too hard to get a clear reading.  But, you're right, we should check anyway.  This is Aramov, after all."

It didn't take them long to scan the area and find that there were no electronic devices present.

"Okay, I feel better now," Lian said, "but we should check again once we get closer to the complex.  _Irrashai."_

"Now there's a language I do know."

"That's really sad, Gabe, ya know?"

"How is that sad?"

"You know Japanese but you don't know Spanish, which is quite commonly spoken in your own country."

"I just never got around to it, that's all."

"Uh huh," was Lian's only reply.  They had reached their first obstacle: a 10 foot drop off.  The rough path that they had chosen sloped down at a dangerous but not vertical angle, and the bottom was rocky so there weren't very many good places to land.

"I'll go first," Gabe said, and half skidded, half fell down the slope before she could protest.  He landed more or less on his feet and raised his arms in an obvious invitation to catch her.  Lian ignored them and jumped down, flipping in air and landing with feline ease.  "Show off," he remarked, throwing her a half-serious glare.

"Oh, come on, you're just jealous," Lian responded.  With a laugh, she continued down the cave with Gabe in tow.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll see who's jealous when you crack that pretty head of yours open."

"Like you have any room to talk, Mr. I'm-gonna-jump-off-a-crashing-train-into-a-helicopter."

"Hey, I did that out of necessity!"

"Oh, yeah?  What about the time you went rock climbing without a harness?" she asked, teasing him.  Giving Gabe crap was one of her few pleasures.

"You've done it too!"  

_Damn, I forgot I told him about that.  "Okay, what about the time you ran a snowmobile through a barn?"_

"Alright, I admit, that was dumb, but you're just as bad as I am!  Remember the time you rode that motorcycle at reckless speeds without a helmet?"

"What?  I was careful," she replied.  Lian should've known he'd try to turn the tables on her.

"Yeah, right.  You launched it off a ramp over a fence."

"Well, if you had just opened the damn gate…"

"Why couldn't you have opened the damn gate?"

"I was busy!"

"Yeah, busy trying to get your brains smeared all over the pavement."

"I knew what I was doing.  Not all of us failed our stunt driving lessons, m'dear."

"Hey, I didn't… are you insinuating that I can't drive?"

"Who, me?" Lian asked innocently.  _I'm glad Gabe decided to come with me.  Three days in these caverns would've been hell with anyone else.  "So tell me, how many accidents are on your record?"_

Gabe caught the mischievous look in her eyes.  "I'm not telling," he answered, trying not to smile.  She knew he liked their casual arguments, too.

Gabe and Lian continued to argue about who was more reckless until they stopped for breakfast.  Gabe pulled out his ACD to check their location while Lian tore open a ration bar.

"Looks like we're making pretty good time so far, but it looks like the terrain's gonna get worse pretty soon here."

Lian's response was muffled.  Gabe looked up at her and laughed.  Lian was trying to tear of a piece of the ration bar with her teeth, but it was putting up resistance.  She glared at him, and with a final pull managed to sever her bite of food from the rest of the "meal."  Lian swallowed, then rubbed her jaw.

"Are essential vitamins and nutrients worth it when you have to burn as many calories as you get just to eat the damn thing?" she asked.

"Who knows.  Maybe they made it tough to eat to entertain everyone who's watching."  That earned another glare from Lian.  "Try taking smaller bites, using your front teeth," he recommended.  Gabe had over fifteen years of experience with US field rations.  "Were Chinese rations easier to eat, Lian?" he asked her to make conversation while opening his own ration bar.

"They didn't give us much in the way of field rations.  We got a few rice cakes if we were going to be gone for a few days, but other than that we pretty much only ate while on-base."

"Bet that sucked."  _How did they expect their agents to perform well without feeding them?_

"Nah, kinda got used to it after a while.  It's not like I really ate much to begin with anyway."

"Yeah, you eat like a rabbit."

Lian laughed.  "Well, this rabbit's gonna remember to bring a granola bar next time."

Gabe laughed too, and they turned their attention to their breakfasts.  Every once in a while Gabe would look up to watch Lian nibble at her food.  _She's just so…cute.  Gabe smiled as he thought of Lian punching him in the shoulder if he ever told her she was cute._

Gabe had enjoyed this opportunity to work closely with Lian again.  Sure, he wished that they weren't going after a friend who might already be infected with a biological weapon, but spending this much time with Lian had brought back the sense of camaraderie that he was afraid that they'd lost spending too much time in their respective offices.

"What?" Lian asked, pulling Gabe's thoughts back to the present.  He realized that Lian had looked up and caught him looking at her.

"Nothing.  Just thinking."

"About…"

"It's nothing.  We should get moving; we still have a lot of ground to cover today."

"Right," she replied, eyeing him suspiciously as she stood up and stretched.

                                                *                      *                      *          

They continued for the next hour or so in silence.  This part was where the cavern was at it's narrowest, and they had to crawl.  Lian's smaller frame was able to get through with little difficulty, but Gabe struggled through some spots.

"Did I ever tell you that I hate small spaces?" he asked, breaking the silence, not admitting to himself that he missed the sound of her voice.

"You're claustrophobic?"  There was a hint of bewilderment in her tone.

"A little.  It was real bad when I was a kid, but I mostly grew out of it.  I'm still not overly fond of crawling through tunnels, vents, 'n stuff like that, which, unfortunately, I always seem to wind up doing.  You sound surprised."

"Well… I guess it's hard to imagine you being afraid of anything.  I mean, you did do all of those crazy stunts we were talking about earlier."

"Just because I'm crazy doesn't mean I'm not afraid.  I'm afraid of lots of things."

"Like what?"

"You, for one."  Gabe tried to sound like he was joking, but he knew he didn't succeed.

"Me?  Why me?" Lian asked.  

"Because you can kick my ass," was Gabe's response.  _Because you're so close.__  Because you've seen the best and worst of me and are still my friend.  Because I care about you more than anything else._

"Yeah, right.  You're twice my size."

"Come on, Lian," he responded, glad to change the subject.  "I've seen you bring down guys bigger than me.  Your hand-to-hand training is better than mine."

"So that's really why you're afraid of me?"

_No.  "Well, yeah, I mean, one of these days I'm bound to finally piss you off and I'll never see you coming," Gabe answered with a laugh.  Lian laughed too.  "So what are you afraid of?"_

"Umm, well, snakes, for starters."

"Snakes?" he echoed teasingly.  "The princess is afraid of snakes?"

"Shut up!"

"Sorry," he apologized.  "Do go on."

"Well…" she stopped talking and moving.  Gabe almost ran into her.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Looks like another little obstacle."  Lian moved to one side of the tunnel, which was barely wide enough at this point for him to crawl up beside her.

There was a deep chasm, about six feet wide, in their path.  The opposite side had more head room than theirs; once they crossed the precipice they would be able to travel upright for at least a while.  That alone was inspiration for Gabe to figure out a way across as quickly as possible.  "I don't remember _this being on the map, do you?" he asked._

"No…Maybe an earthquake created the crack after the cavern was charted."

"That's just great.  Any ideas on how to get across?"

Lian moved her flashlight around to investigate their surroundings, then turned back to him.  "I think we're gonna have to jump, Gabe."

"Good plan," he responded sarcastically.  "And you think I'm the crazy one?"

"Well, do you have a better plan?"

He looked around just like she had a few moments before.  She was right, there weren't any other options.  "Not really," he replied.

"Okay, if it makes you feel better, we can anchor the rope to this side of the wall and attach it to us, so just in case one of us screws up we only swing into the wall rather than plummeting to our deaths.  The only problem is we have to allow enough slack to let us jump across and climb up the other side."

"We have plenty of rope.  Let's set it up."

About ten minutes later, Gabe was attached to the cavern wall with a generous amount of rope and ready to jump.  Lian backed up to give him some room, but the low ceiling kept him from getting a running start.  He jumped and was able to grab the wall on the other side and climb up the ledge.  He disconnected the rope from his waist and tossed it to Lian, who hooked it to herself.  Then it was her turn.

In a move that reminded Gabe of a pouncing cat, Lian leapt from her crouching position, hands first to grab onto the wall on the other side.

She made it with ease, and was starting to vault herself up when the rock she was gripping crumbled and she fell.  Gabe moved to grab her, but he didn't get there fast enough.  The rope went taut and she swung back to the other side of the crevice and hit the wall several feet below him with a sickening thud.

"Lian!  Lian, are you alright?"  _Oh God, he thought, __she can't die.  Not like this.  Not when I…_

"I'm okay, Gabe.  Looks like the rope thing was a good idea."

"Are you hurt?"

"Not too bad.  Just cuts and bruises.  Give me a minute to climb back up, and I'll try that again," Lian answered in a clear, but low voice in effort to conceal her pain.  She was doing a good job, he'd give her that much, but Gabe knew Lian better than that.  He watched her like a hawk as she climbed up the rock face, looking for any sign that she might not be able to make it.

She did finally reach the hole they came out of again, and once more jumped across the crevice.  This time Gabe grabbed her wrist as soon as she made contact with the wall and pulled her up.  Lian didn't even glare at him for helping her, which he took as a bad sign.

As soon as she was safe, he ran his flashlight over her, trying to pinpoint her injuries.  It looked like her left shoulder had taken the brunt of the impact with the rough rock wall, it was bloody, but it didn't look broken.  The rest of her left arm and leg were covered with a wide variety of bruises and cuts, with a particularly nasty gash on her thigh.  Fortunately, she was somehow able to keep her head from hitting the wall; it was not injured.  At a glance it looked like she hadn't broken anything, but she definitely needed first aid.

"Just cuts and bruises, huh princess?" he teased her halfheartedly while he reached in his pack for the first aid kit.

"Like you knowing the extent of my injuries would've helped the situation," she retorted.

"It would've.  You shouldn't have been climbing with your shoulder like that."

"And what would you have recommended that I do instead, just hang there until it got better?"

She had him there, and they both knew it.  There was only one way out, and she had to climb.  "Okay, okay, I don't want to argue," Gabe conceded.  "Let me just get you cleaned up."  He pulled out the lantern and turned it on, illuminating an area about six feet in diameter.

"Won't argue with you about that."

"Yeah, sure," he said skeptically as he began to remove her flak jacket.  "I'm gonna have to take off your shirt."

"Gabe, this is hardly the time to try to get me out of my clothes."

"See, you're arguing already.  I've gotta get to this wound and your shirt's in the way.  I'll be a gentleman, I promise."

"I know, okay."  She winced as he pulled the tank top away from her shoulders and off her arms.

"I'm going to have to move this, too," Gabe told her, pointing to the strap of her sports bra.

"Okay, but it's not coming off, alright?"

"Right."  He moved the strap down her arm to expose her shoulder.  He was able to examine the wound more clearly.  It looked like a sharp rock or something crushed into it.  The skin was a mess, bruised where it hadn't been torn, but luckily the shoulder blade wasn't broken, and none of the cuts went too deep.  It had already stopped bleeding enough to clean.

"How bad is it?" Lian asked, craning her neck to see what he was doing.

"Not too bad, nothing's broken, except skin.  Could've been worse."  Gabe grabbed a peroxide soaked piece of gauze.  "Hang on, this'll probably hurt like hell."  She winced as he dabbed her shoulder with the gauze, watching the peroxide do its job of cleaning the wound.  He worked as quickly as possible, and when he was satisfied that it was clean, he bandaged it with a sterile square of gauze and some tape.

"Well there's that part.  Try not to move it for a while, okay?"

"It's kinda hard to climb around in here without moving my shoulder."

"Don't worry, we're not going anywhere right now."

"I'd normally argue, but I think I could really use the rest."

"I know.  Lemme look at your thigh and we'll call it a night, okay?"

"Sounds good to me.  What about some pain killers?"

"When you stop bleeding."

"Right.  Bleeding to death would suck."

"Yeah, that it would.  Okay," Gabe said, calling attention back to her other serious injury, the gash on her thigh, "I hate to do this to you, but I think you're going to have to take your pants off, too."

"What, do you want me to catch pneumonia or something?"

"It's not that cold in here, and it's not like I'm asking you to strip for my own personal amusement or anything."

Lian rolled her eyes and took of her pants.  Gabe forced his eyes to look at nothing but the gash on her leg.  For him, that was the hardest part.

The gash, unlike wound on her shoulder, went deep and would require stitches.  Fortunately, the cut only went that deep for about an inch along the top of her thigh, the rest was mostly superficial.  Still, he'd have to stop the bleeding before he could sew her thigh back together.  Gabe took another piece of gauze out of the first aid kit and moved to apply pressure to the wound, but then stopped himself.  "Uh, maybe you should hold this," he said, handing her the gauze.

"…right."  She took the gauze from him and held it up against her thigh.  After a few minutes, the cut stopped bleeding enough for it to be stitched up.  Gabe completed the procedure with practiced ease, and soon Lian was putting her pants back on and Gabe started breathing a little easier.

He handed her a packet of Ibuprofen.  "Here's your drugs."

"Thanks."  She took them.  "So are we gonna rest here for a while?"

"Definitely.  Six hours, at least."

"Can we afford to wait that long?"  Worry crept into his friend's voice.  He knew that Lian would still be worried about Teresa if she was bleeding to death on the cavern floor.

"I don't think we have much of a choice.  We can assume it'll take a while before they can infect her with the virus.  It's only been four days, we'll make it.  I'd rather you be in the best condition possible when we get there."

Lian nodded, and closed her eyes, shivering slightly.  She hadn't put her shirt back on; it was probably too painful.  Carefully, Gabe wrapped his left arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.  Lian, amazingly enough, did not fight his embrace and instead held him with her right hand and rested her head on his chest.  

Neither of them spoke, and after a while Gabe noticed Lian's breath was deep and regular, signaling that she was asleep.  Slowly, he leaned back until his back hit the ground and lay there, alert for any trouble.

"That's it," Elsa told the guard, "Bring her back here in twenty-four hours."

The guard nodded and took Teresa Lipan's arm, leading her back to her cell.  Elsa tried to ignore a pang of guilt as she returned to work on the blood samples.

Dr. Weissinger couldn't stall Aramov anymore, and she had to infect Teresa with Syphon Filter.  The girl would be quite ill in twenty-four hours, but she'd still be able to fight.  When the guards brought Teresa back, they would overpower them and Elsa would give Teresa the vaccine.  Then they would be free to go get Eva and get the hell out of this godforsaken place.

Elsa allowed herself a small smile as she pulled a vial out of the refrigerator.  The vial was inconspicuously marked S-221, but only Elsa knew its true contents was not a genetic sample but a strain of the virus itself.  A strain similar to the one she was forced to develop and incubate in Teresa, but different enough to where a cure could not be made without her research.

She wasn't going to give Aramov that research, but she was going to give Aramov the virus.

Elsa's smile got bigger as she pictured the Russian assassin dying a slow and painful death.  _That's what the bitch gets for taking my daughter.  Yes, Elsa was looking forward to Teresa's visit tomorrow._


	10. Promises

Gabe looked down at Lian's unconscious form sleeping on his chest.  She looked more peaceful than he had ever seen her, and he hated the thought of soon having to interrupt that peace and bring her back into the real world.  He considered letting her sleep for another hour when the cold rock underneath him started to shake.

The earthquake wasn't violent, but it was enough to wake up his partner.  She had always been a light sleeper.  Gabe kept still, hoping she'd go back to sleep, but she stirred and turned to face him.

"What the hell…"

"Earthquake," he answered her unfinished question.

"Oh.  Great," Lian said with a cautious look around her.  

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I just got my ass kicked by a big fucking rock."

Gabe laughed and unconsciously brushed her hair out of her face.  Almost reluctantly, he let go of her and she rolled off of him.  Gabe sat up and began to stretch.  The cold rock floor had ceased to be anything resembling comfortable hours ago.  He finally rose to his feet and offered a hand to Lian, who was still sprawled on the ground.  She took it and slowly rose to her feet.  Gabe placed his other hand on her good shoulder to steady her.

"I would let you sleep, but we've gotta move and with this terrain I can't carry you," he said, releasing her when he was certain she had her balance.

"Thank God for small favors," Lian replied with a smile, raising her left arm experimentally.  She winced in pain, but was able to fully extend it above her head.  Gabe didn't even want to think about how much that hurt.  She gingerly tested her left leg by gradually putting more and more of her weight on it.

"How does it feel?" he asked.

"Not too bad.  I can probably run.  Thanks for taking care of me," she added with a warm, gentle smile.

"Any time.  Just help me pack this stuff back up and we'll get out of here."

"Right."

First came the headache.  Then the cough and the body chills.  After six hours of being infected with Syphon Filter, Teresa had a lot more respect for her best friend.  _How did Lian live through this? she asked herself as she forced herself to get up and stretch.  There was no way Teresa was going to let Aramov see her as a helpless invalid on the floor.  No way in hell._

_If Lian could kick this bitch, so can I, Teresa repeated in her head over and over again, hoping her body would catch on and somehow her optimism would make her feel better.  It wasn't working._

_Who am I kidding?  Teresa gave up and leaned up against the wall, allowing her legs to collapse underneath her as she sank to the floor.  __Always back on this goddamn floor…_

Teresa was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of the lock unfastening.  The twenty-four hours weren't up yet, so that pretty much left this unexpected visit to be another social call from Aramov.

Sure enough, the Russian assassin walked through the door.  Her presence would've taken all the life out of the room, if there had been any there to begin with.

"So how's my favorite patient?" Aramov asked in her thick accent.  Teresa was really starting to get sick of the sound of her voice.

"Look, Aramov, I'm really not in the mood, so just cut the crap, okay?"

"I just thought I'd see how you were progressing."

"God, you make it sound like I'm pregnant."

"You are, in a way, my dear," Aramov flashed a cruel smile.  "Your body is manufacturing billions of little organisms as we speak.  You will die, but your 'offspring,' so to speak, will live on."

"What do you want them for anyway?  There's gotta be a better way to make money than this.  Why don't you just open up a coffee shop or something?"

"What does money compare to the ultimate power to decide who lives and dies?"

"Oh, great, so you want to play God."

"Goddess."

"Whatever.  You're fuckin' sick, ya know that?"

"No, girl," Aramov hissed, still smiling.  "You are."  At that, she turned and left the cell.

"Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, you psychopathic bitch!" Teresa yelled after her with the last of her strength, then curled up into a ball and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Lian could sense Gabe's eyes on her as he followed her through the cavern.  Her irritation was starting to win over the warmth she felt from his concern for her.  She was not a porcelain doll and was not about to let any man treat her like one.

"Let's take fifteen, okay?" Gabe called to her, more of a statement than a question.  Reluctantly, Lian stopped and turned to face her partner, who was already sitting on a bench-shaped rock.  He left room for her beside him, but Lian chose to ignore it and chose a spot across from him.  She wasn't hungry, but Gabe pulled out one of those damn ration bars and started to eat.

"You really should eat something," he said between bites.

"No thanks, I think I'll keep all of my teeth." Lian replied as she pulled out her ACD and checked the map.  They were about two thirds of the way through.  The last portion would be the easiest to travel.  ARC Industries had begun clearing a path through the cavern, probably in case they needed a secret way out.  They hadn't finished by the time they abandoned the facility, but they had already done enough work to make Gabe and Lian's lives easier.

"How are you holding up?" Gabe asked.  He had finished his ration bar and had resumed studying her again.

"I'm fine," Lian replied, her tone harsh to warn him that she had just about had it with his concern.

He ignored the warning that she knew he understood.  "You still haven't eaten anything."

"I said I'm fine," she retorted, looking up at him with a glare.  "Now if you're done, then let's go."  She shut off her ACD, put it away, and got up to resume their trip.  

Gabe grabbed her arm to stop her.  "Something bothering you?" he asked.

"No, but if you ask me how I'm doing one more time you're going to find out just how badly I can kick your ass.  Got it?"

"Okay, okay."  He let go of her arm and backed off.  "Sorry for caring," he muttered, turning his back to her.

"I don't need your concern," Lian replied, softening her voice and impulsively grabbing his hand.  Gabe turned back around and closed the distance between them.

"I know, but you have it anyways."  He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her forehead before turning away again to continue down their path.  Lian stood frozen for a few moments before following him, wondering just what the hell that was all about.

No one spoke for hours.  Gabe didn't know what to say that wouldn't get his head bitten off.  He hadn't even turned around to look at Lian, assured she was there only by her quiet footsteps behind him.

Why had he kissed her?  He had decided when she was recovering from Syphon Filter that he would not try to pursue a romantic relationship with Lian, in spite of his feelings for her.  It was because of him that she had nearly gotten killed, becoming any closer would only make her a more tempting target.  Besides, she had never done or said anything that led him to believe that she felt the same way.

Over the past year he'd thought that he'd gotten over her, but working closely with her again made him realize that he'd only been ignoring his feelings.  Now he couldn't anymore and he was in trouble.  _Damn._

A stumbling sound interrupted his thoughts.  He turned around now to face Lian, who was definitely looking a little worse for wear.  Cursing himself for letting her let him forget her condition, he ran back to where she was standing with her arm on the cave wall.  Suddenly not caring whether she killed him or not, he picked her up and set her down against a rock.  The hand that had gripped her left thigh was covered with blood.

"I think I tore my stitches open," she said, wincing with pain.

"Ya think?" he replied sarcastically, taking off his pack to get the med kit while she took off her pants again.  He pulled out more gauze and held it against the deep cut in her leg which was bleeding profusely.  Four hours of rigorous walking was more than the wound could bear.  "You're a real pain in the ass sometimes, you know that?" he said, his frustration with her getting the better of him.  "When were you planning to tell me you were bleeding?"

"I…I didn't want to slow you down," she replied weakly.  How much blood had she lost?

"How would that have mattered if you bled to death back here?"  His anger melted away and he took her hand.

She didn't answer his question.  "Look," she said, "We've wasted too much time already.  You're gonna have to go on without me."

"Lian, no, I'm…"

Lian raised her fingers to his lips to silence him.  "We're out of time, Gabe.  You have to go.  You can come back for me once Teresa is safe."

"I'm not just going to leave you here.  There's no reason to believe that they've even infected her yet…"

"Please, don't argue.  I just know…"  Gabe looked into her eyes and for a split second he felt what she did: an intense, unexplainable wave of urgency and the sense that Teresa was suffering somewhere.  He spent enough time around women to trust their intuition, but he had never stopped to think about what they felt when they "just knew."

Slowly, he nodded in understanding.  He took the hand that he held and replaced his hand that held the gauze with it.  Not quite ready to let her go, Gabe placed his clean hand on her good shoulder.  "I'll be back for you, I promise."

"I know."  Suddenly, Lian grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss.  Gabe too shocked to respond until she pulled away, looking up at him questioningly.  His brain finally caught on, and he kissed her back, enjoying the warm, simple feeling of her lips on his, the pleasure that he'd never allowed himself.

After a time he reluctantly pulled away.  He had to go and they both knew it.  With one last look into her eyes he squeezed her shoulder, and then took off down the path.

Dr. Elsa Weissinger walked into the mess hall, known during the compound's days as a civilian research facility as a break room, as casually as she could.  The terrorists who were in the room eyed her lustfully, but she paid them no mind.  Not one would dare touch her and risk Aramov's wrath.  Elsa walked over to the coffee pot.  Luckily, it was almost empty.  She drained the remnants of the coffee into her mug, and then set about making a fresh pot like the girl scout she was.  Yeah, right.  Using her back to shield her movements, she slipped some of S-221 into the coffee pot.  It would be more than enough to contaminate the entire batch.

Elsa wished she could come up with a more direct way to contaminate Aramov, but she couldn't risk being discovered before she and Teresa got Eva to safety, and they were out of time.  She would just have to trust the Russian bitch's moderate addiction to caffeine and hope for the best.

Just as casually as she had entered, Dr. Weissinger exited the mess hall to head back to her lab.  It was almost time.

Everyone in the command center tensed when Mara Aramov entered the room, but Wan Li relaxed a little when she saw the cup of coffee in her CO's hand.  Aramov was much harder to piss off when she had a healthy dose of caffeine in her bloodstream than when she didn't.  Still, Li thought when the assassin's cold eyes met hers, that wasn't saying much.

"Wan," she barked, "The good doctor is about to check on Lipan's condition.  Let her finish the examination, then kill her.  The medics can handle everything from here and I get the distinct feeling that the bitch is up to something."  Aramov took another sip of coffee.

"Yes, ma'am.  What about the girl?" Li asked.

"We'll keep her.  She's nearly old enough to begin training."  Aramov flashed her a vicious smile.

Li nodded and left the command center to head towards the labs, feeling a sudden wave of pity for the girl who was going to be raised as an assassin.  Aramov lacked any sort of patience for the girl's "training" to be very pleasant.  _Aramov, Li thought, __probably killed her dog trying to teach it to roll over.  Still, it was better than just killing her, or leaving her to starve._

Li shook her thoughts about the girl out of her head to focus on the task at hand.  Weissinger was weak, but she was no fool.  Li would have to keep her eyes open and be prepared for trouble.

Elsa looked up from her computer terminal, trying to conceal her nervousness.  Wan Li was here, and that could only mean one thing: Elsa had outlived her usefulness.  Elsa took a deep breath and calmed her nerves.  Fear would only get her killed, and Eva needed her.

"Where is Lipan?" Wan asked.  Her voice lacked emotion, but fortunately that also meant it lacked the cold malice of Aramov's voice.

"The guard is bringing her up now," Elsa replied, somewhat surprised that her own voice was calm and even.

The other woman nodded.  Elsa absently wondered how old she was.

She didn't have much time to reflect.  A few minutes later the guard led a pale, weak version of Teresa Lipan into the room.  The American girl looked horrible, but she was still able to walk unassisted.  Once more, guilt rushed through Elsa.  She had done this to her.

"Sit down," she ordered, her voice as emotionless as Wan's.  Elsa fingered the two needles in the pocket of her lab coat.  They were strong sedatives, and should incapacitate Wan and the guard instantly.  The problem was injecting them into them both before they figured out what was happening.  Inconspicuously, she pulled one out and handed it to Teresa.

Everything happened at once.  With speed that Elsa did not think the infected woman would still be capable of, Teresa charged the guard, who went down with an empty needle still in his arm before he ever knew what hit him.  Elsa went for Wan, but the Chinese girl was faster.  She pulled a silenced pistol out of her jacket, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

Elsa felt a sharp stab of pain, then numbness as her body's natural pain killers kicked in.  She still moved towards Wan, but her step faltered and she crashed to the floor.

Teresa didn't waste any time.  She kicked the gun out of Wan's hand, who returned the favor by kicking her in the stomach.  It was an all-out fight, each woman kicking, punching, and blocking faster than Elsa's untrained eyes could comprehend.  She could see, however, that Teresa was losing.

Then she saw her chance.  Wan was completely focused on Teresa and ignoring Elsa.  She picked up the needle and pounced with her last ounce of strength.  

All three women were knocked to the floor, but Elsa had the advantage of surprise.  The needle pierced Wan's flesh.  In seconds, she stopped struggling.

Elsa collapsed as the pain reached her again.  She was even paler than Teresa now, who was trying to figure out where she had been shot.  Blood was everywhere.

"Here."  Elsa handed her two more needles.  "Adrenaline and the vaccine.  Take them."  Teresa nodded.  "Take…" Elsa gasped in pain, "Take care of Eva for me."

"I will, I promise," Teresa replied.  Elsa believed her.  Knowing that her baby girl would be okay, Elsa smiled and closed her eyes.  Everything would be alright. 

A/N:  I'm sorry!  I had to kill her off.  I'm also sorry for the lack of updatage.  Writing this chapter was like pulling teeth.  I had to start over twice.  Anywho, this story is almost finished, and I already have some ideas for a sequel.  Thanks to my regulars (you guys know who you are by now) for your reviews.


	11. Change

**Chapter 11**

Gabe checked his ACD one final time.  The compound wasn't too much further now, and he hadn't run into any sign that Aramov knew these tunnels existed.  She had definitely made a critical mistake, and Gabe truly wished it would be the one that finally killed her.

Since the cavern had been leveled and bridges added, Gabe was able to get to the compound wall fairly quickly.  He hoped that it still had some sort of a door; using explosives would give away his position.

There was, in fact, a door.  Unfortunately, it was covered by boxes.  Swearing, he decided to try pushing them first.  Surprisingly, they gave way with minimal effort.  Apparently they were meant to look heavy but be easy to move in case of emergency.  Judging by the negligent lack of guards, Aramov's people must've passed right over them without a second thought.

_Unless it's another trap, Gabe thought uneasily as he sat in a concealed corner to wait for his eyes to get used to the bright indoor lights.  He traded his flashlight for his silenced 9 mm.  Trap or not, he had to help Teresa._

Blinking a few more time to get the last of the dancing sparkling things out of his eyes, Gabe silently crept out of his corner among the boxes and headed cautiously for the door that led to the rest of the building.

Teresa was feeling much better.  The vaccine was working to kill off the virus while the adrenaline shot kept her on her feet in the meantime.  Leaving the poor dead doctor, she grabbed the guard's PK-102 and the Asian girl's silenced Berretta and some ammo and headed back to the cell area.

Obstacle number one was the two guards outside the door to the lab.  The idiots hadn't bothered to come in and see what all the fuss was inside; Teresa supposed they were too drunk to hear anything.  Still, she didn't want to press her luck.  She bypassed them by climbing through the vents.

Fortunately, she found a grate that was relatively close to the cells without getting too disoriented.  She looked down the hallway as much as she could without sticking her head out.  Great.  One guard.  Facing her.  Out of her line of fire.  _Shit._

She came up with a plan.  She took a bullet out of the Berretta's clip and dropped it down to the floor below her.  Naturally, the guard came up to figure out what it was.  He never got that far.  Teresa shot him neatly in the head with the pistol and then dropped herself down into the hallway.  She grabbed the bullet before she continued towards the cells.  She might need it later.

Of course, there were more guards outside Eva's cell.  Three, to be exact.  Teresa wasn't exactly sure why they needed three 250-pound grunts to guard one six-year-old girl, but that seemed to be the way Teresa's life went these days.

She couldn't hope to take all three of them out before they put the complex on alert.  Her year in the floral business hadn't done much for her aim.  Just when she was about to say "screw it" open up a can of automatic whoop-ass, she heard the quiet hiss of a gas grenade, and the less quiet sound of three 250-pound grunts falling to the floor.  

_The hell?  She risked a peek around the corner.  Sure enough, the guards were down for the count.  A familiar figure appeared from around another corner down the hall, making his way towards the bodies._

"Gabe!" she half-yelled, half-whispered.

"Teresa, what are you doin' out here?  Are you alright?  Where's Aramov?"

"Nice to see you, too."  Gabe looked down at the floor at her rebuke.  "Oh, I'm just kidding, ya big oaf!  I thought you were dead!"  The gas had dissipated, so she was able to go down the hallway and greet him with a hug.

"Nope, Lian got me out.  We'll play catch-up later, now we've gotta get out of here."

"First let me get Eva."

"Who's E—oh, right Weissinger's daughter.  Where is she?"

"Eva's cell is right here, but Elsa's already dead.  I don't know where Aramov is, but Weissinger did take out some chick that I think is her lieutenant."

"Good.  Let's go."  Teresa unbolted the cell door and found a little blonde girl curled up in a ball asleep on the floor.

"Eva," she called, "Wake up.  It's me, Teresa."

"Teresa?" the girl asked, looking up at her, then Gabe, then her again with big blue eyes.

"C'mon, Eva, it's time to go home."

"Home?" the girl smiled.  "Does that mean I can sleep in a bed?"

"Of course, but now we have to leave."

"Okay.  Who's he?" Eva asked, pointing to Gabe.

"This is my friend Gabe; you remember me telling you about him?"  Eva nodded.  "Well, we're going to follow him and he's gonna lead us out."  Teresa handed the PK-102 to Gabe and flicked the Berretta's safety on before tucking it into the back of he waistband before picked Eva up.  Teresa was still a little weak, but the girl was small for her age, and not very heavy. 

Gabe smiled at them both before taking his weapon out and surveying the hallway.  He gave Teresa the "move out" hand signal and she followed him.

Just when Gabe thought things were going well, he heard a familiar, taunting voice call out from the junction in front of them.  "You're not getting out that easy, Logan," Aramov called, emerging from the shadows, gun in hand.  Gabe trained his weapon on the assassin, Aramov took aim at him, and Teresa put Eva down, stepping in front of the girl to shield her.

"Elsa cured the virus, Aramov.  It's over," Teresa retorted.

"No!  It's not over until all of you die!"  Gabe saw Aramov's trigger finger tense, then heard the shot ring out.  In that split second Gabe wondered where he would be hit, whether the flak jacket would be able to save him, what would happen to Lian if they were killed.

After a second, Gabe realized that he should've felt the pain by now.  Worried for Teresa's safety, he turned around to see her still standing.  Then he looked back at Aramov, not at her gun hand, which was what he had been looking at earlier, but at the blood covering her already ugly faux fur jacket.  She crumpled to the floor in pain.

"Is everyone alright?" a familiar, but this time warm and friendly voice called out from around the corner.

"Lian!" Gabe shouted in surprise.  His partner was limping noticeably, but she gave him a reassuring smile.

"Everyone okay?" she repeated her question.

"Yeah, we're fine.  Good timing," Teresa replied as she took a moment to look Lian over.  "What the hell happened to you?" she added.

"Long story.  Look, we'd better get moving, this place is gonna be crawling with Aramov's men."

"Right, what's our exit strategy?"

"Out the way we came in," Gabe replied.  "A series of caverns cut through the mountain to a secret exit in the back of the facility.  It won't be the funnest way out, but it is the safest."  Lian made a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a snort, and Gabe winked at her.  She laughed fully at that, and headed down the corridor to the hidden exit.  Teresa, with a traumatized-looking Eva in tow, followed, making sure to shoot Gabe a "Just what the hell was that all about?" look when she passed him.  Gabe brought up the rear.

They flew down the corridors into the back storage area where Gabe and Lian had come in.  Some terrorists found them, but Gabe was able to dispose of them easily.  The goons weren't very well armed or trained.

Gabe closed the hidden door behind them, but Lian kept everyone running until they ran out of flat ground.  Then she let everyone stop.  Teresa, still not at her best, was breathing heavily.  Eva clutched her hand in terror.  "So how do we keep them from following us?"

On cue, the whole mountain shook and rocks started falling from the cave ceiling.  Lian and Teresa immediately dove to cover Eva.  The violent tremors lasted for a few more seconds, then stopped.  Eva hid her face in Teresa's shirt, crying.  Gabe didn't blame her, the kid had a rough day.

"I called in an airstrike," Lian answered Teresa's earlier question.

"Good thinking," Gabe said, wrapping his arm around Lian's waist and pulling her close, enjoying the look on Teresa's face.  Lian apparently was too; she kissed him before pulling away and heading off down the tunnel.  Gabe followed her.

"Hey guys, what the hell?" Teresa called after them, still carrying Eva, who'd cried herself to sleep.  Gabe and Lian exchanged glances and laughed.

**Epilogue**

Gabe, Lian, Teresa, and Eva were sitting on the couch in Gabe's apartment watching _Mulan.  Well, the adults were anyway; Eva had long since fallen asleep.  Lian got up and went into the kitchen, carrying various cups, plates, and popcorn bowls with her.  Gabe grabbed what she couldn't carry and followed her.  She jumped when he slipped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck._

"Sorry," she said nervously, "I'm not quite used to that yet."

"I know," he replied, his voice low and soothing.  "I'm sorry I startled you."  He began helping her clean up.

Lian was still trying to figure out the new direction her life had taken.  It had been a month since their mission in Ethiopia, a month since she'd kissed him when he left her in the tunnels.  She had no idea what had possessed her to do it, but she decided she was glad she had.

Still, she was a little scared, too.  She had never been in a meaningful relationship before.  Love was still an alien concept to her.  The way Gabe made her feel, as warm and wonderful as it was, terrified her sometimes.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked when she had been silent for some time.

"Everything," she sighed.  "Aramov, Eva and Teresa…you."

"Not having second thoughts, are you?"  His tone was playful, but she knew there was a hint of seriousness there, too.  She probably seemed a little withdrawn to him sometimes.

"Not a chance," she replied with a kiss.  "It's weird thinking that it's all over, isn't it?"

"You mean with Aramov dead and everything?"  Lian nodded.  "Yeah, I know what you mean.  We've been hunting her for so long…  Congratulations, babe, you managed to succeed where I had failed for five years: you finally killed her."  They both laughed.

Lian quickly looked out into the dining room, then said, "It's weird thinking of Teresa as a mom, too.  I can't believe she actually adopted Eva.  I almost fainted on the spot when she told me."

"Teresa can do anything when she puts her mind to it.  I think she'll be a great mom.  Eva already adores her, and the poor kid's been through so much."

"I know.  It's just the concept.  If you told me a month ago that Teresa would be raising a child, I probably would've asked you what you had been drinking."

"And then you would've told me to take a nap."

"Damn straight," Lian replied with a laugh.  Gabe kissed her again, this time passionately.  Neither one of them noticed Teresa enter the kitchen with her hands on her hips.

"Get a room, you guys.  I won't have you corrupting my daughter," she said, trying to sound serious.

Gabe and Lian stopped kissing and turned to her.  "Don't worry, Teresa," Lian said, "You still have a good twelve years to corrupt her yourself."  All three friends laughed.

"Point.  I guess seeing the two of you kiss won't damage her too much," Teresa replied, "But keep it clean, for my sake, if anything."

"Yes, ma'am," Gabe said with a mock-salute.

"Well, I'm gonna take her back to your place," Teresa told Lian.  Teresa and Eva had taken over Lian's apartment while Teresa was staying in town to take care of all the legal stuff to become Eva's guardian.  Lian loved her best friend dearly, but sharing the small apartment with Teresa and Eva was just too much, so she stayed with Gabe.  Sure, there were moments where she wanted to kill him, but what else was new?

"Our flight leaves pretty early tomorrow," Teresa continued.  "'night, guys, and thanks for everything."  She hugged both of them.

"Any time, Teresa."

"Take care."

At that, Teresa returned to pick up the still sleeping form of Eva from the couch, and went out to her car.  Gabe waved to her from the doorstep as she drove away.

When she was gone, Gabe turned to Lian and looked into her eyes.  A thousand emotions ran through her in a fraction of a second, making her feel dizzy, but safe.  He kissed her, and it felt like forever before either of them pulled away, ignoring the chilly, rainy Washington weather.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too."

A/N: Yea, it's over!  I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.  It's 2 a.m. on a Monday morning, and I have an 8 a.m. class, but I just had to finish this.  I know this story is far from perfect, and there are a lot of parts that have problems, but I'm pleased with the overall result.  Like I said earlier, I am planning to write a sequel, so look for it at a fanfiction website near you.


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